


Pandora's Trick

by Fandom_Soda



Series: Pandora's Shenanigans [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Body Swap, Fluff and Angst, Gen, KID and Kudo annoy each other, Kaito has adhd, Pandora is involved, Panic Attacks, Swearing, This takes place in a void outside of canon, ichthyophobia, literally just me having fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27223981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Soda/pseuds/Fandom_Soda
Summary: Kaito had finally done it, His mission was almost over. Pandora was just within his grasp until he woke up that morning. It turns out Pandora has a little more up its sleeve than immortality, and Kaito found out the hard way.Unexpectedly mind-swapped with a shrunken Kudo Shinichi, The unlikely duo of a thief and detective have to work together without killing each other as well as ruining each other's lives. Kuroba finds that the small detective's life isn't actually as put together as he makes it seem...
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Mouri Ran, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid/Nakamori Aoko
Series: Pandora's Shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001172
Comments: 13
Kudos: 97





	1. Shrunken Thief?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all started with a thief, a detective, and a magical gem...

That morning when Kuroba Kaito woke up, little did he know it would be the strangest period of his life. He woke up that morning on the floor, on top of an unfamiliar futon in an unfamiliar room. 

_‘That’s weird… How did I end up here?’_

His head felt heavy and full of fog, he couldn’t remember anything from the previous day. He… had a heist, he thought, but that’s all he could recall. It hurt to think about it, a dull ache ended up pulsing through his forehead when he tried to recall the day. 

_‘Was I drugged somehow? Just what exactly happened?’_

He groaned as he threw the covers off of him, but what he saw was not his legs, nor his own pajamas. He noticed two things right away. One, It was a kid’s body, and he was fairly certain he wasn’t physically a kid anymore, despite being called one at his night job. Second, The groan wasn’t his own, it was a different voice than his own. The voice sounded familiar, however.

He jumped up as fast as he could, stumbling slightly on his smaller legs. In a panic, He scanned the room for anything that could work as a mirror - anything reflective. He couldn’t see much from his lower viewpoint, however. He eventually managed to find his way into the nearby bathroom, and with a little difficulty, got up on the nearby step stool. As he stood on the tips of his toes to even be remotely able to see his face in the mirror, he found it wasn’t his face that was staring back but rather the face of his youngest critic Conan Edogawa... No, rather Kudou Shinichi. 

“What… The hell…” Kaito whispered.

Sure enough, what he heard was not his voice, It was the smaller detective’s.

 _‘This can’t be real...!’_ Kaito’s thoughts raced as he tried to keep his emotions under control. 

He kept poking at various spots on his face as if the illusion would wear off and his face would suddenly appear. He’s worn masks before as KID but this felt different. While he could feel under the mask the pressure when someone would touch his face, but never the actual skin from someone’s finger, much less his own. It was becoming increasingly clear that this wasn’t a dream unless he was lucid dreaming or something like that. Still… It was worrying. Why did this happen? 

He hissed as his head began to dully ache again. Looks like remembering is still a no-go. 

Damn, if only he could remember what happened during the gap in his memory then maybe he could figure out why the hell he was like this or even how it happened. He knew real magic existed (Thanks to Koizumi and Pandora supposedly existing), but was this something that magic could do? He didn’t have enough information right now to figure this out. 

Kaito slowly stepped off the step stool, taking cautious steps out to the bedroom. Now was not the time to panic, despite panic being the only thing he felt. He just had to take things slow for now, everything would be fine… Right? 

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves. 

“Poker face…” Kaito muttered.

At this point, the phrase has become akin to an affirmation, something he can say to himself when he’s experiencing an unexpected situation - and this definitely qualified for an unexpected situation. It also helped as a way to remain close to his father, the one who taught him this in the first place.

 _‘Wait... If I’m in Tantei-kun’s body then… is he in mine?’_ He wondered. 

_‘If that's so then… Ahah... I'm in trouble.’_

The magician wanted to laugh. He hoped that the smaller detective didn’t realize his identity, but sooner or later he knew that he was going to get curious and find his KID lair. This was definitely not how he anticipated his identity being revealed. 

“Conan-kun?” A voice called from a nearby room. 

Kaito recognized it as the girl that Conan was always with, Ran was her name, right? Damn, He didn’t need this right now. Looks like he’d need to keep his rival’s cover maintained for now, As it just now became his cover. At least it would give him leverage if Conan decided to reveal his identity as KID. 

A realization struck him: He’d never had a chance to impersonate Conan, only ever his real self. A child-like smile slowly crept onto Kaito’s face. Maybe he could attempt to have a little fun with this, he always did with trying new disguises. 

“Ah... Ran-Neechan? What is it?” He called out. 

He was glad all he had to do was imitate the tone and not do the extra work to match Conan's voice. 

“It’s almost Noon, are you doing okay?” The door slowly swung open as Ran walked in. “Come on, You’re not even dressed?” 

“S-Sorry! I was up late!” 

“Well… Hurry up and get dressed, Your friends are waiting outside.”

Kaito nodded, telling Ran that he would be out soon. She gave a warm smile and began to leave. 

“Make sure you eat something before you leave since you missed breakfast.” She said from the doorway, turning to look at the small magician. 

“Right, Thank you for reminding me.” The magician nodded. 

The door closed with a soft click, which immediately activated Kaito’s nerves. There would be no way in hell he’d be able to fool Tantei-kun’s friends, especially that brown-haired girl he hung around. He didn’t know them that well, despite them being at a few heists. However, There was a big difference between seeing them around and knowing them personally. 

“Damn it…” He groaned. 

What was he going to do?

“I guess… The first step is to get dressed. Then I can figure out what to do about those guys…” 

The first problem he ran into was actually finding where his rival actually stored his clothes. He debated on bringing the gadgets that caused him so much grief, eventually deciding that it would be useful despite the lack of knowledge of how to use them. He managed to go out thirty minutes later than he figured he was supposed to, He had to skip eating of course. He figured he could just get something out later and then figure out a way to pay Shinichi back. What he didn’t anticipate was the lecture he had to get out of when Ran caught him, skipping what was supposed to be an extremely late breakfast. He yelled a quick apology as he ran out the door, every inch of his body screaming at him that this was a bad idea. 

“Conan!” The larger kid - Genta, He remembered- yelled at him. “You’re late!”

“Sorry, Sorry, I’m just having a weird day, that’s all!” Kaito laughed nervously, glancing over at the brown-haired girl. 

She was already giving him a weird look, then again it could just be her resting face. Her name was… Haibara, he believed. The three other kids had stopped giving him glares and were back to the mischievous smiles Kaito had seen at his heists. The next thing he knew, He was being pulled by the three children as they cheerfully talked about who was going to win the soccer game they had planned. At some point down the road, they let go and ran ahead, excitedly trying to snatch the black and white ball from each other’s hands. 

“Geez, so much energy.” Kaito laughed wearily. 

There was no way he could keep up with them, He underestimated Kudou’s ability to deal with these children. 

“I wonder where they get it, Huh?” Haibara said, walking at his side. 

“Hm? Yeah…” Kaito trailed. 

“So?”

“...So?”

“You said you had something to tell me about the heist last night.” 

The magician’s mind froze for a moment. Tantei-kun contacted her? 

“Ah.. I-I forget, Sorry. It was a long night.” Kaito tried to laugh it away. 

“Hm… is that so? Sounded pretty important on the phone last night.I doubt you would have forgotten right away. You’re… doing okay right?”

Kaito laughed nervously. It probably would be valuable to get this girl on his side, after all from everything he’s collected about her it sounds like she and Kudou are more or less in the same situation. But would anyone really believe him if he said that he and Kudou somehow switched bodies? And that’s still just a theory, he still has no clue if Kudou is even in his body. He would have to think it over for a little longer. 

She sighed. “Well. Can’t be helped I suppose. We can talk about it later. Come on, The kids are getting out of sight.” 

“Right…”

A few minutes later the five found themselves at a lone field set for a soccer match. The three children who had run ahead were already getting ready, and it seemed like they were going to have a 2 versus 3 match. 

“Geez! You guys are slow!” Kaito believed the one who spoke was named Mitsuhiko. 

“Conan-kun! You’re on my team!” The younger girl - Ayumi, right? - waved her arms as she shouted. 

“Sorry, Edogawa-kun and I are going to sit out for a few.” Haibara spoke out all of a sudden, causing the three to groan in disappointment. 

“Come on Haibara-san!”

“No fair, You just want Conan for your team!” 

“Ai-chan…” 

“Just for a little, okay? We’ll come in when we can.” Haibara assured, receiving disappointed affirmations from the three children. 

She began to lead Kaito over to the side, Far enough that the children wouldn’t be able to hear. Just what did she want? The two watched the children play for a few minutes, Kaito anxiously looking back over to Haibara on occasion. 

“You aren’t Edogawa-kun are you?” She finally spoke, her voice low. 

Kaito didn’t really know how to respond. Sure, he was planning on somehow telling her, but not at this exact moment. 

“What gave it away?” 

“Last night. At the heist, the phone call I told you about. It sounded like he was in pain almost.”

This piqued Kaito’s interest. 

_‘He was… in pain?’_

“His voice was far away like he wasn’t there mentally. He was mumbling something about something called ‘Pandora’ as well, I wasn’t quite sure. His voice was way too low. Now, in the morning you wake up late and forget about meeting us for soccer, one of his favorite pastimes. Your voice also pitched up slightly, when you weren’t imitating Edogawa-kun, as if that’s how you’re used to speaking. Something happened last night, At the heist.” 

“Pandora…?” Kaito’s voice was reduced to barely a whisper at the mention of Pandora. He was sure his poker face dropped for a split second, judging by Haibara’s surprised reaction. 

“So you do know what he meant by ‘Pandora’? Care to share?”

Kaito laughed quietly, sipping from the confidence he carried with him as KID.

“Sorry. That would put everyone here in danger, I can’t do that to a young lady such as yourself.” 

Haibara’s eyes narrowed, her posture shifted to become a little more defensive. 

“Just who are you?”

“Well… I planned on telling you anyways… But...hm. Kudou is... probably sitting there on my bed, surprised at my true identity. I’ve been told we look alike.”

“... Kaitou KID?” 

“Bingo.” 

“But how - “

Haibara stuttered for a second, trying to wrap her mind around what Kaito just said. He panicked slightly as the young girl’s expression shifted.

“Hey hey hey, Calm down, don’t think about it so hard, I’ll explain later in a safe place.” The thief turned to the brown-haired girl, attempting to calm her in some way.

She took a deep breath, her eyes still casting suspicion over at the thief. 

“Fine. Later then…” 

_‘Well… I doubt she’ll accept it as the reason… But if Pandora was involved… Then did it do this? Damn, I wish I could remember more of that night! Looks like there might be more to Pandora than immortality…’_

“Oi!! Conan! Get over here!!” The three children had stopped playing and Genta was now shouting at him.

“Wait, they want me to play?” Kaito looked to Haibara with a nervous expression. 

“Go on, Great Thief. Show them your amazing soccer moves.” 

“H-hey…” 

Kaito had no choice but to play a few rounds with the kids. While he could easily keep up with the kids in terms of endurance, he had no way of maintaining the level they expected from Conan. He had to admit that the detective had skills, otherwise how else would he be able to nail him night after night with that hellish soccer ball?

“Conan-kun, Maybe you should take a break….” Ayumi suggested, kneeling to approach Kaito, who had fallen to the ground in feign exhaustion. 

“Y-yeah maybe I should…”

“Hey, then why don’t we talk about KID’s heist last night!” Mitsuhiko excitedly blurted, running up to join the other four children. 

“Oh right!! I can’t believe I forgot!” 

“Man wasn’t it cool how he just appeared out of nowhere like that??” 

“I know, I know, But I really liked it when…” 

Kaito found himself more and more confused as he listened to the children excitedly list off the things that he supposedly did that night. He looked over to Haibara for confirmation, if he really did everything they were talking about. She sighed and moved closer, kneeling down to be able to whisper in his ear. 

“What’s that look for? Don't tell me you really don’t remember this.”

“I don’t. Honestly.” 

Haibara looked genuinely shocked before her expression melted back to her sour look. 

“Geez, This gets more problematic by the second.”

“Tell me about it…”

“Ah Conan, That’s right! You fought KID that night!” 

Kaito looked up, gazing at the three who had stars in their eyes. They all were looking at him, big smiles on their faces. 

“How did you win??”

“Was he tough to beat??”

“How did you guys escape??”

“One at a time!!” Kaito couldn’t help but blurt. 

He couldn’t keep up with the children’s overlapping questions. How does Kudou do it? He took a deep breath, calming his exhausted mind.

“Wasn’t it on TV? There were news ‘copters around the site right?”

“Mh. But, the signal was lost when the gem you two were fighting over flashed red. There was a split second, I could see it.” Mitsuhiko answered. 

_‘A red flash…? Was it really..?’_

“C’mon Conan! Just tell us!!” Genta insisted. 

Kaito found himself making up multiple lies in order to just get the kids to stop asking questions. He seems to have satisfied them - for now at least. Looks like there would be more he needs to ask Haibara once they get somewhere safe. 

A few exhausting hours later, The two parted ways from the rest of the detective boys and Kaito found himself in front of a rather uniquely shaped house, at least for the neighborhood. Haibara had led him here and was insisting he go inside. She claimed the person who lived there was a friend. And so, Kaito had no choice but to trust her. Haibara entered first, announcing her arrival with a guest. 

“A guest? Who- Oh! Shinichi!” The voice belonged to an older man, Kaito recognized him for the few times he saw him.

Agasa, He recalled, was his name. 

“Wrong.” Haibara cut him off quickly, startling the older man. 

“W-what do you mean?” 

“I mean. I think I deserve an explanation, Magician under the moonlight-san.” Haibara turned to glare in Kaito’s direction. 

“Wait... Wait a second.” Agasa’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “This can’t be KID, He’s too small, He could never imitate Shinichi as of now.” 

“Exactly. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. You said earlier that Kudou-kun is sitting on your bed, Shocked about your identity right? You do realize what you’re implying.” 

Another disguised laugh from Kaito, this was where it all could go wrong if he wasn’t careful. 

“It’s exactly what I’m implying. That my mind and his were swapped.” 

“Hey…” Agasa laughed nervously. “That’s not possible. It would have to be magic, right?” 

“Magic doesn’t exist, beyond petty party tricks.” Haibara retorted.

Kaito scoffed. “Magic does in fact exist, It’s just known as sorcery.” 

“Sorcery?” 

“There’s many different types, y’know. I believe what happened to me and Tantei-kun happens to fall under the realm of sorcery.”

The room was filled with a heavy silence as the inhabitants took in the words the small thief said. Haibara broke the silence with a scoff. 

“You don’t believe me?” 

“Sorry. I don’t believe fairy tales and supposed flashy thieves. There’s probably a different reason for whatever’s going on. One that isn’t in the realm of fantasy.” 

“It’s the only one we have, however.”

“Then why don’t we go find Shinichi? If you’re right then he should be wherever you were last night.” Agasa suggested. 

Kaito’s eyes widened in realization. His hand hit his forehead as he silently cursed. Why the hell didn’t he think of contacting his own home first? Why hasn’t Shinichi contacted him at all?

“Don’t tell me you didn’t think of that, O Great Thief.” Haibara remarked. 

“In my defense, I’ve been rather disoriented…” Kaito admitted quietly. 

“Well, Where were you last night? If you can remember that much.” 

“I was…”

Kaito fell silent as he tried to recall where he was. If anything, he should have been in his house, but it’s possible he fell asleep at Jii’s again. It happens once or twice after an intense heist, from how it sounded from the kid’s recollection of it. Either way, His house would be the best bet. He really didn’t want to explain to Jii why his rival is calling his bar asking for Kaito Kuroba. This was something he’d rather explain in person.

“...Probably at home. I had planned on resting after the Heist, after all, it’s Sunday. I’ll give my cell a call, If anything he should pick up if he has it on him.”

_‘I just hope Aoko didn’t drag him out anywhere. He can act, but…’_

“Please do. If you could, Put it on speaker?” Agasa requested. 

Kaito nodded, reaching into the pocket of the coat he wore, pulling out one of the two phones he had picked up from the kid’s room. He hesitated for a moment with the phone in his hand before pulling out the second one. 

“.... Which do I use?” He turned to Haibara, nervous. 

She sighed. “Either one. He’ll recognize the number.”

“R...right.” 

Kaito ended up using the one that belonged to Shinichi, He figured it would be useful to have the number for later if they both got out of this mess. Of course, even if the number was deleted later, Kaito was sure to commit both to memory, just in case. He took a deep breath and began to put in his cell phone number, being cautious not to mess it up. Within seconds of placing the call, the phone was picked up by someone. Kaito hesitantly pressed the speaker button and spoke. 

“Hello-”

“Kuroba, What the HELL did you do?!” His own voice screamed back at him. 

“Ah… So you figured it out… Eheheh…”

Well, there went that trail of hope. Kaito looked to the other occupants of the room, who both were staring blankly at the phone in the small thief’s hands. 

“Sh-Shinichi… is that you?” Agasa came closer, slowly at first. 

“Professor? You’re at the professor’s right now?” 

“Yeah, The brown-haired girl is smart, Saw through me when I was trying to figure out what was going on. Anyways, Please don’t tell me you went out.” 

“Relax, I’m not stupid. Your neighbor though is definitely something. Does she always wake you for breakfast?”

“Y-yeah... That’s Aoko…” Kaito couldn’t help but pitifully laugh. 

Great, Guess today was ‘tell all the details of your personal life to your rival’ day. He’d figure it out soon enough, However. It was probably better for Kaito to tell him rather than have Tantei-kun sneak around and find out. 

“Anyways!” Haibara snatched the phone out of Kaito’s hands. “Where are you right now?”

“Where am I? I guess this is KID’s home…”

“You called him Kuroba earlier.” She gave a sideways glance to Kaito, who was sure looked very pitiful right now. “I’m guessing that’s KID’s real name? He didn’t give it to us earlier.”

“Yeah, His ID is right here, Name’s Kuroba Kaito. At least I have a name to a face. It was hell this morning.”

“Can you stop giving all my personal details? I’d like to have some stuff I can keep to myself.” Kaito groused. 

“Anyways, I can’t really tell where the town is. Most of his apps are locked with different passwords, including GPS. Geez, You really have to lock up everything huh?” 

“Ekoda. That’s where you’re at.” Kaito begrudgingly informed. “I use a different phone for heists, that’s the one you probably found. There was two right?”

“Yeah. One was on the desk and the other was in a drawer. I answered the one on the desk, so this must be your personal one. I couldn’t figure out the code to this one, but the other was unlocked minus every single app. Might as well have been locked.” 

“It ruins the fun, besides I can access them quickly enough when I need to.” 

“Anyways, I’m coming over to where you’re at. If you’re at the professor’s there shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“You can’t! I’ve - Wait no, You’ve got school.”

“Actually, According to your neighbor, Aoko, There is no school on Monday. So yes, I think I will be coming to where you’re at, and we’re going to have a long talk. On the other hand, YOU do in fact have school at Teitan elementary.” 

He could hear his own voice hiding snickers of delight. It felt very strange to Kaito, even though he was used to not hearing his own voice coming from his mouth, his own voice coming from the other side of the phone was just unusual. 

“You don’t have to be so enthused you know.”

“Sorry, Sorry, But I guess your name fits now, Huh KID? KID going to elementary school. It’s just a wild thought.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Anyways. Haibara, Keep an eye on him. Make sure the others don’t figure him out and he doesn’t give me away. Although I guess someone switching minds is just as unbelievable as someone shrinking, if not more.”

“Yes, Yes, Will do.” Haibara replied in her bemused tone. 

“Keep Ran safe for me, Kaito.” 

“... Only if you do the same for Aoko.”

“Of course. But I mean it, if she’s hurt in any way I’ll-”

“Yes, Yes I getcha. Just get over here tomorrow. It’ll be fine.” 

“Oi, Wait-!” 

With the dexterity of a thief, Kaito took back the phone and ended the call in one swift motion. 

“Geez, Revealing a guy’s identity like that, Who does he think he is?” Kaito grumbled. 

“Well. You should probably stay here in the meantime. It would be the safest thing to do.” Haibara suggested. 

“You mean stay... here with you guys?” 

“Who else? It would help also keep this from the girl at the detective agency too.” 

“Fine, Just until we can sort this out.” 

“Then, I suppose I should start on dinner huh?” Agasa asked, looking out to the window. 

The sun was already rapidly setting, Kaito didn’t realize he had been out so long already. 

“You should probably call Ran-kun and let her know that you’re staying over here tonight.” 

“Yeah, I’ll do that…” 

Kaito quickly called up the detective agency using the number saved in Conan’s phone, shifting his mindset back to that of Conan’s. He made something up about the professor having a sleepover at the professor’s house. Ran objected, on the reasons of school, but Kaito quickly answered by saying he’ll swing by to grab his school stuff when he leaves with Haibara. Ran was angry but begrudgingly let him stay, as it was already late. He hung up the phone, bidding his farewells. He was going to regret that later, he was sure. 

“Kuroba-san, You’re lucky that you’re here tonight. I picked up a good deal at the market today.” Agasa said from the kitchen. 

“A good deal?” 

He barely had time to react as Agasa held up a massive fish that he had on the cutting board. His heart dropped as he barely had time to prepare himself. He stopped moving, stunned as he looked at that slimy, scaly terror in the professor’s hands.

“They had this amazing snapper half off! Ai-kun, can you help me out?” 

He was lucky that the professor had turned away, Kaito’s poker face was beginning to slip. The fish kept staring at him, those beady eyes taunting him. He began to hyperventilate, the fish just kept staring at him, why did it keep looking at him???

“Why the hell did you pick fish?” He whispered rather loudly, venom dripping from his voice. 

“Oh? Kuroba-san do you not like fish?” Haibara teased. 

“I-it’s not my favorite, no.” 

He maintained deep breaths, attempting not to look at the monstrosity being cut up on the counter. He had to leave after a few minutes, as his anxiety grew too much for him to control with his repeated affirmation. He was not going to let his phobia of fish be found out by his enemies, the last thing he needed was fish at his heists making everything harder than it needed to be. 

He found himself on the roof after roaming the house for a while, watching the sunset behind the houses surrounding the neighborhood. Everything felt so serene, it was strange. It felt… almost normal. But he couldn’t help but pull out his phone, setting it to the front-facing camera. Kaito’s face was still the same, Tantei-kun stared back on the phone. He pinched himself on the cheek, feeling the sharp pain. He watched the spot slowly grow red, proving that this wasn’t a dream nor a mask. With a defeated sigh, he turned off the phone. He decided to stay up there for a little longer before he went back down, letting the cold night air revive him. He’d have to figure out a way to get out of eating the snapper eventually...

This was going to be a very interesting time, Kaito could tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to thank my friend who read this over on the DCMK hangout discord I'm in, I really appreciated the comments giving me the courage to go through with posting this. 
> 
> I had a silly idea and it became this eventually. Please don't take it too seriously.
> 
> It's a lot more dialogue-based than my previous stuff, I apologize if moves a bit too quickly.
> 
> I have to admit, I have like three chapters already written for this, so this may be a monthly updated thing depending on how kind school is to me and my current hyperfixation.


	2. Thief meets Detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two rivals finally meet, and they don't take it so well. Shinichi comes up with an idea, Haibara hates it, Kuroba enjoys it. 
> 
> Well, at least Haibara gets some kind of excitement now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got bored, so here's the second chapter early.
> 
> Thank you all for the wonderful response to this! I was really nervous about how this would be received, I didn't want to write the characters wrong and I know body swaps aren't the most original idea in the world.
> 
> I've written ahead a lot and I'm super excited for the next few chapters!
> 
> I may post as a separate story Kudou's perspective on a lot of these events, I've been writing a little bit of day one as to just get the story straight. It wouldn't be a day by day like this one but more of the highlights.

Kaito expected to be back in his room the next morning.

He expected to be woken by Aoko’s screeches of breakfast, but it never came.

He woke up to be back in the professor’s house, on a makeshift bed on the couch. 

Of course, this wasn’t a dream. He lifted a hand up to block the light from the sun shining through the windows, only to recoil back as it was the same small hand he had yesterday. A sigh left his mouth, he was expecting a bit too much to hope this was in fact a dream. 

The morning passed like nothing was wrong, The two inhabitants of the laboratory greeted him kindly in the morning. The professor and Haibara inquired more about Kaito, He was careful as to what he told them (he decided it was safe to inform them about his general interests), as they ate, and then he left with the young girl to go to school. 

The school day was what Kaito could probably call a living hell. Having to act like an entirely different person as well as a kid, was tiring, not to mention going over lessons he had heard already and were more or less basic foundational principles that he had learned ten times over. He couldn’t wait for the day to be over and for this nightmare to end. He and Haibara didn’t talk for most of the day, she seemed to be keeping her distance from him. It was understandable, he was basically a stranger using her friend’s face. Finally, it was time for them to go home, and Kaito was ecstatic. All he had to do was get over to the professor’s place before Kudou got there and then-

“Conan!” 

_‘Oh great… Those kids.’_

Kaito swung around to see the three detective boys running up to him. Haibara smirked, looking at Kaito's startled face. 

“Hey, Conan! We’re going to the bookstore today right?” Genta asked enthusiastically. 

“Ah sorry, Something came up. You guys go without us, okay?.” Kaito excused. 

“Us? Haibara-san you too?” Mitsuhiko looked to Haibara. 

“Unfortunately.” 

“Mmm... Well, it can’t be helped I suppose.” Ayumi responded. “We’ll tell you about what happens next, okay?”

“Sounds great, Thank you, Ayumi.”

Kaito gave her a smile and a thumbs-up before continuing out the gate with Haibara. The two arrived at the professor’s house earlier than they expected, it didn’t seem like Kudou had arrived yet, despite Ekoda being relatively close to Beika. It didn’t take that long for Kaito to get there on his hang glider anyways, so his perception could be a bit skewed. The anticipation could be felt by everyone in the room. 

“Shinichi is rather late…” Agasa muttered, worriedly looking out the window. 

“He probably just ran into a murder. After all, that guy’s a-” Haibara started to speak, but she was interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“Ah, That must be him.” 

Kaito watched as the door opened and a feeling of surrealness washed over him. Standing in the doorway was himself, his face was twisted into an annoyed expression but it was in fact Kaito. As the person in the doorway noticed Kaito, His face matched Kaito’s as a similar expression of amusement was formed on his face. 

“Sorry, I’m late. There was a murder on the train I took. It was hard trying to solve it without showing myself.” The real Shinichi apologized in Kaito’s voice. 

“Told you.” Haibara remarked. 

“Anyways.” Shinichi moved forward, Crouching in front of where Kaito sat on the couch. 

The two studied each other for a few uncomfortable seconds. It seems like Kudou was also trying to come to terms with what he saw in front of him. 

“So, Kuroba.” 

“Kudou.”

“What do we do now?” 

“My best guess is we go and get the gem from last night back.”

“The gem from last night? It’s called the ‘Verdant Eye’” Kudou asked. “Ah, wait, you mean because of the light, right?”

Kaito recalled back to the video he watched last night of the heist. He couldn’t sleep, so he found a report of the scene from the roof. t was from the perspective of a news copter, it showed him and the mini detective having a standoff on top of the room. He seemed to be saying something to Kaito, but the camera didn’t pick it up. All of a sudden, the kid charged at the thief, knocking him to the ground. It seemed like a desperate grapple for the gem, a large brilliant green emerald on a golden chain. But for a split second, he could see a small white flash go over where past Kaito once was. 

_‘Was that… A bullet? Someone else was there?’_ He wondered.

The final moments of the video was him and the kid seemingly fighting over the gem, as it got held up to the moon by Kaito in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to save it. But just before he could figure out what happened next, A red flash cut the cameras, seeming emitted from the gem. The news reporter talking about the footage commented on this, saying any cameras in the building as well the surroundings were taken offline at this time. Kaito found that the gem was safe, back in the hands of its owners, or so the report said. In truth, if the police caught the red flash as well they were probably investigating as well... Which meant it was in their custody. 

He took a deep breath before responding. 

“Yeah. I believe the ‘Verdant Eye’ is the one I’ve been searching for.” 

“Ah right, You’ve been looking for a specific one, haven’t you?” 

“And this gem is ‘Pandora’, Right?” Haibara spoke up. 

Kaito remained silent. He internally debated how much he should tell them about Pandora… But he decided they deserve at least a partial truth if it really truly was involved. 

“Correct. A gem that’s said to hold immortality, That’s Pandora. However… I think it may have more power than just immortality.”

“Like body swapping?” 

“Exactly. I have a friend who may be able to tell us more about what happened to us and maybe could help us get back to normal… but…” Kaito grimaced. 

He really didn’t want to let Akako know what happened to him, even if she is aware of his identity this was the last thing he needed her to hold over him. But, she was the only one who knew anything about sorcery. 

“You don’t want them to know the details, right?” Kudou answered. 

“I don’t want another thing to be held over my head okay?”

“I think we have no choice. If your friend is the only option we have, then we need to get their help.” 

“... Fine! But you’ll have to make contact. She knows my face, It would be easier to tell her in person at school.” 

“Fair enough. But back to the topic of getting the gem back, how are we going to do that? It’s back in the custody of the police, they won’t make it easy for you to get it.” Kudou crossed his arms, sitting down next to Kaito. 

Kaito wasn’t quite sure about that just yet. It was never easy the second time around. The police become aware of the tricks he used last time, even if he planned not to use it again, they become hyper-aware of everything. Now, they were at a disadvantage. Even if Kaito wanted to pull a heist and grab it, he couldn’t do it as Tantei-kun. Not only would that be bad for Shinichi later on, but it would also reveal what happened to both of them to the police if they get caught. 

“Looks like this will have to be a team effort. You’ll have to play the part of KID, of course.” Kaito spoke up. 

“Wait, are you telling me to steal it??” Shinichi jumped off the couch. 

“I mean, either one of us can do it, as this time we just have to get it, But you need to be the face of KID.”

“No! We’ll figure something else out! We are not pulling a Kaitou KID heist like how we are now!”

“What do you want to do? Waltz up to the police and say ‘Hi, can I have this priceless gemstone? I think Kaitou KID and I got swapped because of the ‘Verdant Eye’’? The only way we can bring the gem back out is if KID sends an announcement.”

“Oi, Haibara, Say something!”

Haibara was sitting on one of the stools, idly sipping from a glass. An amused smile sat on her face.

“Oh? I think this is something the two of you should figure out.” 

Shinichi’s face changed to one of defeat as he looked to the professor with pleading eyes. The professor simply replied with a nervous face of his own. It seemed like he didn’t know what to say either. 

“Hahh... I’m still opposed to this but… Fine.” Kudou begrudgingly accepted. “Just this once, since we’re in a bit of trouble.”

“Relax, If it goes well It’ll be pinned on me.” Kaito laughed. “No one will know that the great Kudou Shinichi stole a gemstone.”

“Jerk.”

Kaito stuck his tongue out playfully at the detective, who scowled in response. 

“Come on, Don’t do that with my face, it looks weird.” The magician complained. 

“Do what? Look serious?” 

“Yes - no - I mean-!” 

The two bickered back and forth, causing Haibara to sigh. 

“Hey hey… Are these two going to be alright?” Agasa muttered to Haibara. 

“They’ll be fine. They’re both more capable than they realize.” She responded, taking another sip from her drink. 

“Geez! I get it, I get it!!” Kaito snapped. 

“Alright, calm down, KIDdo.”

Kaito scowled at the new twist to an old name as Shinichi smiled with his own childish grin. 

“Anyways, We have some work to do before we can even begin thinking about sending a notice. For one, I’m sure you have no clue how to do half the stuff I do.” 

Shinichi opened his mouth to argue but closed it in contemplation. 

“I’m sure you can pick it up fast enough, Meitantei. At least let me tell you how to manipulate your voice without this rinky bowtie.” 

Kaito waved the voice-changing bow tie around to emphasize his point. Agasa deflated slightly at his beloved voice changer being called “rinky”

“Well, I’ve got to use it because your vocal abilities suck.” He muttered under his breath.

He kind of missed not being able to change his voice on a whim. The voice changer was too conspicuous for him to use. 

“What was that?”

“Your body sucks, I can’t do anything!” 

“Welcome to my world! … Look, As much as I hate to admit it, We’re in this together, we can’t fight about this.” Shinichi admitted. 

“Hmpf. Fine.”

“Now then, I think we should probably talk about how to keep our identities secure, otherwise I’m certain we will be found out.”

“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. You’re not exactly the best actor in the world.”

Shinichi’s face turned visibly uncomfortable. It was clear he already knew that, he didn’t need Kaito saying to his face.

“From what I’m seeing,” Haibara spoke up. “Kudou-kun is going to need to act boisterous and wild, not to mention learning magic tricks. Kuroba-san is going to need to do the opposite, that isn’t an issue as he can act impeccably as anyone, he cannot do magic whatsoever.”

“You’re so cruel, depriving me of my only source of joy.” Kaito held a hand to his forehead in a display of mock disappointment. 

_‘I already knew that, you didn’t need to make it worse.’_

“Edogawa-kun doesn’t know magic. While I’m sure you can pass it off as a new interest, showing high-level tricks out of the blue will be sure to tip off many of the people around you.” Haibara explained.

“There are some dangerous people around you now, Kuroba-san. You’ll need to be careful.”

“There are dangerous people around me too, you’re not special.”

“I mean people who will kill you given the chance.”

“Yeah me too, like I said, You’re not special.”

“There’s people trying to kill you?” Shinichi turned to look at Kaito.

“Yeah, I mean specifically KID though. I have a feeling we’ll probably run into them this next heist, so we’ll need to be prepared.”

“Mh… Right then. I’m going to head back, Text me the details of who I’m trying to find okay? I’ll be back this Sunday, We can go over our game plan then. For now, We just have to try our best to act like nothing's wrong.” 

“Geez, Am I going to be okay with you as me?” 

“Have more faith in me, it’ll be fine!!”

“Just make sure Aoko doesn’t find out - or that bastard Hakuba.” 

“Hakuba? Ohh, That detective. You’re acquainted with him?”

“He’s in my class, He’s sharp so be careful but you probably already know that. I think he’s back in London, but you never know when he’ll return.”

“I’ll be careful, don’t worry.” Shinichi said, turning towards the exit. 

He gave a wave as he began to leave, but stopped short of the door. He turned to face the three remaining in the room, his expression somber. 

“Actually, there is one thing… I want to do... before I leave. A favor if you will.” 

Kaito raised an eyebrow. 

“Can you give me a crash course right now on how to change my voice? There’s… someone I want to see.” 

“Kudou-kun you’re not thinking about changing to look like yourself and seeing that detective’s girl are you?” Haibara interrogated. 

Shinichi laughed nervously.

“I don’t mind, but it sounds like Haibara has some other thoughts about it.” Kaito responded, getting up off the couch. 

“You do know that this is extremely dangerous right?” Haibara narrowed her eyes at Shinichi. “I doubt if this guy is here that she’ll figure it out but if you aren’t careful then…” She pointed over at Kaito and closed her eyes. 

“I know, I know. They’ll know Kudou Shinichi is really alive, putting Kaito in danger. Another possibility is that Ran isn’t fooled and sees Kaitou KID underneath the disguise, meaning whatever I say is meaningless AND I get a karate kick in the face.” 

“Are you still going to do it? Even if it puts us at risk?”

“We can wait until we get to the detective agency to fix your hair, As that’s honestly all I do to disguise as you.” Kaito spoke up. “We can mess it back up when you leave. See? Kaito enters, Kudou appears, then Kaito leaves. Almost like magic couldn’t you say?” Kaito couldn’t help but have a childish smirk on his face. 

“Geez, You both are horrible.” Haibara sighed. “I can see I’m not going to be able to stop you two. Just be careful.” 

The two couldn’t help but have big smiles on their faces after hearing that. Kaito was honestly pretty thrilled to be able to teach someone how to do magic, even if it was something as simple to him as changing voices. He planned on starting Shinichi off with imitating his own voice, as he at least could remember somewhat how it felt in his throat as well as similar to Kaito’s own. Within a half an hour, Shinichi could replicate at least his own voice to a passable degree. He could claim he had a cold and it would be just fine. Kaito had to admit, He learned fast. He felt almost proud, seeing the look of achievement on Shinichi’s face. 

“Right then, Are you ready?” Kaito asked, looking at Shinichi. 

The two had moved to the barstools at the professor’s house. Kaito had to move around, the way the chairs spun was perfect for that. 

“Yeah… I believe so.” He responded.

His face was hiding an expression of nervousness under one of determination. Kaito knew that expression well, he saw it on a lot of the police guard right before his heists. The only difference is this one had a hint of fear. 

“Well, Let’s get this over with. You can’t stay long, remember.” Kaito reminded, slipping off the stool. 

“Right. I’ll try to remember that.” Shinichi followed, his expression still persisting. 

The two said their goodbyes to the professor and Haibara and left for the detective agency, both of their nerves screaming at them. It was a silent walk until they reached the agency, neither of them dared to say a word beyond their general plan for this visit. The sun was still high, which meant while Shinichi did have plenty of time to talk with Ran it was at the risk of missing the train back and therefore jeopardizing Kaito’s life. 

“Right. Here we go.” Shinichi muttered. 

“C’mon, I can’t reach, remember? Bend down.” Kaito berated. 

Shinichi complied, allowing Kaito to style his hair to that of his familiar hairstyle. Something felt wrong, however, as Kaito did so. Shinichi’s breath was shallow and unsteady as if he was holding back from doing something. Kaito quickly finished up, and Shinichi pulled back. He released a breath he was holding, acting like nothing was wrong. 

“Look at that, can’t tell the difference.” Kaito assured Shinichi.showing how he looked on his front-facing camera. 

“You’re right. I’d never had imagined...” 

“Right, right, Just knock on the door and get it over with. Or am I gonna have to use the Conan card?”

“No no! Just give me-”

“Conan card it is then!” Kaito said, Grabbing the doorknob to the detective agency’s office. 

“Hey wait-!”

The door swung open with a creak. Kaito happily announced his arrival back, glancing up at Shinichi’s uncomfortable face. 

_‘He’ll thank me for this. One day’_

“Welcome back Conan-” Ran had been cleaning her Dad’s desk off, beer cans and cigarettes could be seen in the bag she was holding. She turned around to face Kaito and as she looked to the legs behind him, her face slowly turned pale.

“Look who I ran into!” 

“Shinichi…” She whispered. 

The plastic bag she held almost dropped out of her hands as she stared wide-eyed. 

“Yo… Ran.” Shinichi said, his voice slightly wavering. 

He coughed once as they planned. Ran raised an eyebrow at the cough before sighing. 

“Geez, You should have told me you were coming back today!”

“Ahah... Sorry sorry, I wanted to surprise you. This wasn’t entirely planned to be honest.” 

“... You’re hopeless…” 

Kaito stifled a snicker at all this. He didn’t realize this was the reaction that would be gotten from the two of them seeing each other. The two hesitantly talked for a while, Shinichi had to come up with an excuse as to why he was back so suddenly, Kaito couldn’t help but listen in to what they were saying. Wasn’t like there was much he could do, keeping an eye on Shinichi to make sure he didn’t mess this up. He was the only one keeping an eye on the time, after all. 

The two talked for longer than anticipated, Long enough for Ran’s dad to return from wherever he was at. That was fun explaining to him why Shinichi was randomly in their office, he didn’t stay long luckily. 

“Shinichi, You can stay for dinner… right?” Ran asked, her face flushing a light pink. 

“I’d love to-!”

“BUT! Shinichi-Niichan has to catch the train, Right… _Shinichi-Niichan_?” Kaito glared at Shinichi, his voice dripping with enough venom for only him to catch. 

“Ah right… I’m still working on that case, A new one just popped up I had to take as well. I just came by to visit for a little. I’ve really overstayed my welcome.” Shinchi nervously laughed. 

“I see... Well.. don’t hesitate to call... Please be safe, Shinichi.” Ran’s face dropped as she tried to hide her sorrow. 

“I’ll be back as soon as I can… I promise.” 

“I’ll show Shinichi-Niichan out, Ran-neechan.” Kaito offered.

“Mm…” Ran simply muttered. 

The two of them kept looking at each other, even as Kaito dragged Shinichi out. Shinichi’s expression remained one of sorrow even as the door closed. 

“Just what was that?! There were no dinner plans! C’mon, I’m living your life, not you!!” Kaito couldn’t help but be angry at Shinichi. 

“Sorry… It’s just… I forgot…” 

Kaito sighed. Shinichi was in a pretty complicated situation, one he’d never understand… Gotta give the guy a little bit of room. 

“It’s fine… I should apologize too, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that... Let’s get you back to Kaito okay?”

Shinichi nodded slightly, reaching a hand to his head to mess his hair up. The two walked down the steps slowly, The sun was just about to reach the point of sunset. Kaito reached into his pocket, offering Shinichi’s phone. 

“Give me KID’s, you did bring it with you, right? I’ll keep that one on me and you can contact me on that. You should take Shinichi’s. That way you can remain in contact with Mouri-san.”

“Of course, Thank you.” 

The two swapped the phones, each pocketing their own. Kaito made sure to inform Shinichi of his personal phone’s passcode, mentally noting to change it once this was all over. 

“... Keep her safe for me okay?” 

Kaito looked up to Shinichi’s sad face as the detective said this, noticing the tears he was barely holding back. Kaito scoffed. 

“Isn’t that a given? I understand though, After all, I’m leaving the one I love too.” 

Shinichi smiled, giving the smaller boy a thumbs up before leaving. Kaito watched as the detective’s back slowly merged into the passerby, leaving no trace he was ever there. 

“Guess I better text him about Akako.” Kaito muttered, touching KID’s phone in his pocket. 

The only evidence he had that his other life existed now was this phone, the familiar sensation of surrealness washed over him again. 

_‘I’ll be back soon, Aoko.’_


	3. Timely meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito reunites with some friends, is picked on for a bit, and learns some unsettling facts about Kudou's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After I get through what I've already prewritten, updating when I feel like it, The updates should be weekly, or at least monthly depending on how kind school is to me. 
> 
> This fic has become a curse, I just wanna write this and not do any schoolwork haha!
> 
> This chapter wasn't my favorite to write, it's mostly a bunch of set-up for the future. I have some fun silly chapters planned but I had to get this out of the way first. I apologize.

A week passed extremely slowly. 

Kaito learned more about Conan’s life as an elementary student, more than he ever thought he should learn. Saturday rolled around before he received anything about Akako from Shinichi. 

**NotKID: She wants to meet both of us tomorrow**

**NotKID: What do you want to do?**

Kaito tisked as he read the messages. Of course, she’d want to meet both of them. He had hoped he wouldn’t need to see her at all like this, but maybe she’d need both of them there to get an accurate reading or something.

**Doito Katsuki: i’ll be there**

**Doito Katsuki: why does she need us both anywas**

**Doito Katsuki: *anyways**

**Doito Katsuki: i bet she just wants to make my life even more hell**

**NotKID: Amazing use of names, by the way, What a throwback.**

**Doito Katsuki: shut it**

**NotKID: :P**

**Doito Katsuki: anyways arent you in class why the hell are you texting me**

**NotKID: Aren’t you in class too?**

**Doito Katsuki: lunch break remember?**

Kaito looked around the room, checking the surroundings. So far every student was still engrossed in their own conversations or lunch. No one had been checking what he was doing besides Haibara, who he wasn’t entirely concerned with.

“Texting Kudou-kun?” She had quietly asked. 

**NotKID: Ah right, it is about that time huh? I’ll let her know that we’ll both be there.**

**NotKID: Make sure to bring the professor or try not to be noticed.**

**NotKID: Since it’s just nearby it shouldn’t be too bad for a kid to come alone.**

**Doito Katsuki: where are we meeting anyway?**

**NotKID: Your house.**

**Doito Katsuki: oh are you kidding me really?**

**NotKID: It was the only secure location I could think of, sorry.**

Kaito let out an audible groan in response, earning him the attention of the detective boys. 

“Conan-kun, are you okay? Does your stomach hurt?” Ayumi asked. 

“Ah no no, I’m fine. Just having a bad day, that’s all.”

“Ah... is that all…?”

The detective boys didn’t quite seem satisfied with that answer but went back to their previous conversation anyway. 

“So? I’m guessing you were getting the plan?” Haibara lowered her voice as she looked at Kaito.

“Yeah. She wants us both there, so I guess I’m taking a field trip.” Kaito grumbled quietly. 

“Be careful. You never know what’s lurking out there.”

“Yeah, Yeah.” 

The train ride over to Ekoda the next day was surprisingly stressful for Kaito. He left fairly early in the day and made up an excuse for Ran, as well as let the professor know as well so he can back it up if Ran ended up calling. He didn’t want to involve him any more than he already had, so he decided to head over alone. He was asked multiple times where he was heading by station managers as he made his way over, but he simply told them he was heading to a friend's house or he was heading home. He was lucky they accepted it just like that. He found his house easily, but the route felt strange. It was most likely due to his small size but everything was different yet the exact same. He knocked on the door and waited, occasionally glancing over at Aoko’s home. He didn’t want her to see him right now, he couldn’t explain why a young child just showed up randomly at Kaito’s home. The door swung open and he was greeted by Akako’s scowling face. 

“So it’s true then?” She muttered softly, stepping aside. 

Kaito didn’t answer, entering his house quickly. Akako closed the door behind him quietly. The two were silent for a while before Akako gestured to the direction of Kaito’s front room. Sure enough, Shinichi sat there, sipping on a cup of what looked to be iced coffee. 

“I hope you’ve been being nice to me.” Kaito simply said as he took a seat next to the detective. “Really, Iced? C’mon, hot coffee is better..”

“I’ve been doing my best.” He simply replied. “And for your information, I just prefer iced coffee over hot, okay? And you really should invest in something other than decaf.”

“Before we talk…” Akako interrupted. 

She tossed Kaito a pen, her eyes fierce. He caught it effortlessly, giving it a quick look over. 

“Prove to me that you are really as this… child claims, Kaito Kuroba.” 

“Fine, fine.”

With a few swift and flashy movements of his hands, Kaito switched the pen out for a rose with a burst of smoke, making it seem like it had been transformed. In reality, the pen was just switched out with the rose hidden in his sleeve. He slid the pen between the couch cushions as he held the rose to Akako. Her eyes widened as she took the rose.

He had recently begun carrying on him small things he could use for tricks when he was feeling anxious. It gave him comfort to have a deck of cards in his pocket or a fake rose on hand to suddenly manifest out of nowhere. Comfort was something he especially needed right now. He wasn’t supposed to do tricks, but no one said he couldn’t do anything in private. It still disappointed him not to have an audience, after all, tricks are supposed to be shared. 

Akako burst into laughter soon after. 

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing it's just… What a truly unique situation you found yourself in.” 

“I know. Can you help us or not? He’s already explained everything to you, right?” 

“Yes, I’m aware of the situation. Now that you both are here, I can definitely see that this does have the air of sorcery around it, it grew stronger the moment you two were together… But the type that I’m involved in doesn’t have anything to do with how you two are. This is something stronger than even I’m capable of.” 

“Ehh?! So you can’t help us at all??”

“I didn’t say that. I’m guessing this began about a week ago? Around the time of your last heist?” 

“Oi, Wait, She knows you’re KID?” Shinichi spoke up. 

“Yeah, Unfortunately. I’ll still deny it in public.” Kaito muttered, crossing his arms. 

Akako’s face turned grim. “I sensed a large amount of magic used that night, around where you were. Larger than any I’ve felt before.”

“We’ve already identified what caused this. It’s more that we don’t know how to use it to turn back.” Shinichi informed Akako. 

Kaito noticed that his tone was a little more childlike talking to Akako, perhaps to keep up appearances he was Edogawa Conan and not Kudo Shinichi?

“Do you have it on you?”

“Unfortunately, no. We still need to get it.” 

“I see. There’s not much I can do until I see it. To make things easier, I’d start looking at what was going on that night. Things like the celestial bodies and moon phases. Those have always had associations with sorcery and may have had something to do with it. It’s possible you can’t turn back until a certain event as well.”

“Wait, Moon phases? …. Ah! There was a full moon that night!” Kaito jumped up, slapping a hand to his forehead. 

‘How could I be that dumb?! Pandora always was connected to the moon! But… what about the comet?’

Kaito turned to look at Shinichi, who had a curious look on his face. 

“Do you know if there was a comet last night? Maybe one that comes every thousand years or so?”

“If there was one, don’t you think it would have made the news?” 

“What if it was unexpected or.. or just early or something?” 

“Still, I think astrologists would have noticed it, right? But to answer your question, no. I was not aware of any comets arriving that night. I’d have heard about it weeks in advance if it was so.”

Kaito cursed under his breath. That eliminated the volley comet at least. It wasn’t supposed to arrive anytime soon. However, The volley comet was supposed to make it cry, not switch people’s minds. 

“It’s possible that what we’re searching for has properties besides just what is known.” Shinichi offered. “For example, if everything isn’t met then strange things happen. This could just be a consequence of not having everything ready.”

“That is a possibility…” Kaito sighed. 

There were too many unknowns in this situation, it made both him and Shinichi uncomfortable. 

“Well, Whatever happened we can figure it out if we find whatever or whoever did this to you,” Akako spoke, standing up from where she was sitting. “In any case, That’s all I can do without seeing what did this to you. There’s no denying that this had something to do with sorcery, however. I look forward to seeing what further happens to the two of you.” She turned with a smirk and began to leave. 

“Where are you going?” Kaito asked

“I’ve got some stuff to look into, There’s something I want you to do for me in exchange, once this is all over, of course, Kuroba-kun. I’ll let you know once the time comes.”

_‘Something she wants me to do?’_

Kaito nodded quietly, watching Shinichi bid farewell as the witch left his home. 

“So there’s that. Looks like there’s more we’ll need to look into before we can fix this.” Shinichi concluded. 

“So we’ll need to wait at least until the next full moon, right?” 

“Sounds like it.”

“We can at least obtain the gem and wait. The sooner we have it, the more time we have to fully figure out what exactly it is.” 

“Right…”

“So? There’s more than one reason you wanted me to come here isn’t there?” 

“Yeah. I thought we could do some work on the heist.”

“Weren’t you opposed to pulling a heist? Now you’re the first one to make plans?” Kaito teased.

“I just want this to be over okay? The sooner we can get this over with, the better.” Shinichi pouted. 

“I hear ya, We can’t rush things though. That’s the best way to get caught, believe me I know. I’ve been meaning to come back here anyway, there’s one other person who needs to know what’s going on.” 

“One other person?” 

“Yeah.. I’ll show you.”

The pair found themselves in front of what looked to be a back alley pool bar. Kaito smiled sadly, it was just recently that he was able to come up these steps and discuss plans with Jii. 

“The blue parrot?” Shinichi read. “It looks like it’s closed.” 

“It’s not, He’s usually in there anyways. Anyways, What do you say we have a little fun with this?” 

“A little fun?” 

“Yeah. Do a little switcheroo action? C’mon think of it as acting practice.”

“I don’t need... Geez, Fine.” 

After a few minutes of discussion, the two ducked under the chain with the closed sign on it and, just like Kaito claimed, The door was indeed unlocked. Shinichi entered first, Kaito following close behind. 

“I’m sorry but we’re-” Jii began to give his usual ‘we’re closed’ speech as he cleaned glasses. 

“Yo, Jii-Chan.” Shinichi said, just as he was instructed. 

“Oh! Young master Kaito! I didn’t know you were coming today!” 

“Ah sorry, I was just in the neighborhood, anyways I brought a guest with me today.”

“A guest?” 

Jii turned his head, looking for whoever Shinichi claimed was this guest, soon looking down to Shinichi’s feet. His eyes widened with realization. Kaito cheerfully gave a greeting to the old bartender. 

“A-ah… certainly, Would you like something to drink, young boy?” His voice shook with fear. 

“Mh! Yes please! Juice if you could!” 

Kaito could see the expression Shinichi gave him at his impression, it was a rather unamused one. 

“Certainly. If I could have a word with Young master Kaito after…”

Jii placed a glass of what looked to be orange juice in front of Kaito.

“Thank you Jii-chan!” 

Jii raised an eyebrow at Kaito’s thank you and pulled Shinichi off towards the side, speaking to him in a hushed whisper. No doubt asking what he was doing, dragging his rival to the place where he keeps all his props for his Kaitou KID heists. The two spoke for a while as Kaito happily sipped the juice he was given. 

“Wh-What?!” Jii eventually exclaimed. 

“Oh, Did you just now tell him?” Kaito dropped the childish tone, still paying attention to his juice.

“Y-young master Kaito… is that really you?” Jii’s terrified expression turned to look to the small kid at the bar. 

“Need me to prove it?” Kaito slipped off the barstool and walked around to the edge of one of the pool tables. He felt around for a bit until he pressed the hidden button. The pool table flipped around, revealing the spaces where his props normally would have been placed. Shinichi couldn’t help but stare with a surprised expression.

“H-how-”

“How did I know that if I haven’t been here before? That’s only possible if I’m actually Kaito Kuroba, you know.” 

“Then you’re-” Jii’s head slowly turned to look at the detective.

“Edogawa Conan, Kudou Shinichi, Pick a name it’ll stick at this point.” 

“You forgot KID Killer.” Kaito snickered.

Shinichi glared in response. It seemed he didn’t like that nickname as much. 

“How… How did this happen?”

“You might want to sit down for this, It’s a bit of a long one.”

Jii listened with wide eyes as the two told him of their tale. He remained in a contemplative silence the entire time until they finished what they had to say. 

“I… I see..” Jii whispered once the two were done. 

“We’re gonna need props for this next heist. Can you do it, Jii-chan?” Kaito leaned forward on the table, a worried expression on his face. 

“Of course, young master, but can you really pull it off like you are now…?” 

“Have some faith in us. We’ll be able to do it one way or another.”

“How may I help? Do you already know what you need?” 

“No, But if you could get the location of the last gem I tried to steal, that would be a great start. I don’t know what happened that day, but I don’t have it so therefore it must be back in the custody of that old man who keeps trying to catch me or with the police.”

“You mean Suzuki Jirokichi?” Shinichi looked down at Kaito. 

“Yeah, that old man. Jii-chan, If you could confirm that, it would be a good start to a plan.” 

Jii nodded, his face still filled with worry. “Please be careful, Young master Kaito… I fear that this may just be the start of your troubles…” 

Kaito gave him a determined nod, he knew Jii constantly worried about him despite him being almost as capable as when his father was KID... 

“There’s one other thing I want to ask,” Shinichi spoke up. 

“Yes, er… Kudou-sama?”

“That’s not necessary, just Kudou is fine, of course, it’s Kaito in front of others.” 

“I understand… What is that you need to ask?” 

“Well… I was just curious…” 

Before Shinichi could continue, Conan’s phone began to ring. 

“I’ll take this really fast, you guys continue.” Kaito waved them, opening up the phone. 

Ran was calling, he told her to call the professor before she called him, as he might be busy. He exited the bar before answering, taking a deep breath. 

“Ran-neechan?”

“Ah, Conan-Kun. I know you said you’re at the professor’s today, but I just wanted to ask what sounded good for dinner tonight. I know it’s early but dad got paid today and I thought it would be nice to have a treat tonight. How does sushi sound?”

“Absolutely _NOT_.” Kaito answered immediately, his eyes widening. 

“... I was just asking, sorry.”

… Shinichi was going to KILL him for snapping at his girlfriend!

“Ah-Ah, Sorry I didn’t mean it! I wasn’t talking about su-sushi but uh, this movie I’m watching!” He fibbed. “But uh… How about Ramen instead? Or how about we go out? You can pick!” 

“We haven’t gone out in a while... sounds good, I suppose.”

“Then it sounds like a plan! Ah, Sorry I’ve gotta go back, the best part just came up! I’ll see you back at the agency!”

“C-Conan-kun-!”

Kaito hung up quickly, heaving a sigh of relief. He almost ruined it there, why did she have to suggest sushi of all foods? He refused to eat a bite of any kind of fish he was offered, he didn’t care if Kudou ate fish normally but he wasn’t letting a single amount of that scaled animal from hell itself near his mouth or anywhere near anything he was eating. He entered the bar again, seeing Shinichi and Jii talking about something. From what he got it was about some books about magic, or at least something involving magic tricks. 

“You two seem to be getting along.” Kaito hopped back up onto the barstool. 

“Jii-san is very enjoyable to talk to, I was just asking if he had anything that your father may have used to help you learn magic,” Shinichi said, sipping from a glass of Iced coffee he didn’t have when Kaito left. 

“Help me learn magic?”

“Yeah. If I’m going to pull off a heist, I need to learn it don’t I?” 

“That’s true.” 

“Speaking of heists, inspector Nakamori is getting antsy. He’s expecting KID to send a notice any day now.”’

“Ah yeah. He gets like this. Don’t worry about it.”

“I was just thinking that maybe we should send something soon, just as a claim there isn’t anything wrong.” 

Kaito and Jii looked at Shinichi with wide eyes, who took another casual sip of his drink. 

“What did you do with Kudou Shinichi the detective?” Kaito whispered. 

“I just think it would make our lives easier if KID didn’t just disappear before we take our true claim. It would give you a chance to perfect playing me as well. We can’t let anyone know that the KID killer is actually the accomplice this time. We don’t even have to take it, just have KID show up and lead the police around a bit.”

“...You have a point I guess. Jii-chan, You think you could find some targets for that as well? I’ll do some searching as well whenever I can, to lighten the load.”

Jii nodded. 

“And to you, Kudou Shinichi, you think you can do it? I’d offer to stay the night this time and show you the equipment but Ran-san said she wants to go out to eat and now I can’t really decline that.” 

Kaito withheld a snicker as Shinichi’s face turned into an annoyed expression. He muttered something under his breath angrily. 

“Ah, I know, Jii-Chan, sorry for throwing so much at you but do you think you could do that?” Kaito turned to the old bartender.

“I believe I can, yes…”

“Great! It’s all settled then!” 

“Speaking of equipment…” Shinichi pointed at Kaito. “Do you know how to use mine? Judging by the fact that you’re not wearing the stun gun watch, you probably don’t know how to use them.”

Kaito covered his wrist in embarrassment. “I just don’t like watches okay…?” 

“Keep it on you at least, You do have it with you, right? I don’t want you to get killed because you didn’t realize that being a kid means you aren’t as strong as you once were.” 

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.” 

Shinichi fell silent for a little. “Being a detective… is dangerous work. Of course, I’m going to almost be killed.” 

Kaito fell silent, taking in what the detective just said. He recalled seeing a few scars on his body when he first woke up in it, he didn’t know what they were from but… He’s clearly been through a lot, ignoring the shrunken body at least. 

“Keh, Guess I’m gonna have to do extra to keep your ass safe then. I’ll figure out your gadgets, okay? I’ll message if I’m not sure of how to act around people, so let me know if there’s anyone I need to avoid.” 

“... Right.” 

The two remained at the bar with Jii for a little while longer, deciding to get a jump start on looking for a target. The two joked and tormented each other, much to Jii’s worry. Kaito’s thoughts kept going back to the scars on Conan’s body, specifically the one near his abdomen. It was obviously from a gunshot wound, one that was rather life-threatening. Kaito had a few scars himself, from various times he was accidentally shot by police and others to magic tricks gone wrong but nothing like where the scars on Tantei-kun’s body were, all centered around vital points. Just who was this detective dealing with that would do such a thing to a child? 

The pair left the bar before the sun began to set, after all, Kaito had to be home soon. He said goodbye to Jii, who looked at the two sadly. He muttered a solemn ‘good luck’ before Kaito and Shinichi walked off. As the two walked the train station, they spoke more about themselves, and Kaito learned more about the detective in his body.

He was a big Holmes fan (he already knew this to an extent but it went so much farther than he realized), and knew how to play the violin. He could speak English shockingly well, not to mention a little bit of various other languages. 

Kaito was careful about what he shared, He loved chocolate and enjoyed being active. He answered what he was comfortable with about his family life, confirming Shinichi’s questions about Phantom Lady being his mother. 

The train station rapidly approached soon enough, and the two fell quiet about their personal lives. The two bid their farewells, taking one last look at the lives they were entrusting to another. Kaito boarded the train to Beika, but as he did so his mind wandered. He found himself unconsciously tracing the gunshot scar as he rode the relatively empty train. He was snapped out of his thoughts as KID’s phone vibrated in his pocket. It was from Shinchi, Informing him of those he should avoid. The names surprised him almost, the thief didn’t expect to recognize any of them. 

Amuro Tooru, a waiter down at the restaurant underneath the detective agency. Upon reading the explanation, he recognized it as the guy he met when he disguised as Haibara’s older self. Kaito found himself becoming more intrigued into who this guy was dealing with. 

Sera Masumi, The detective girl he impersonated once. It looks like she knew Shinichi’s identity, but he hasn’t told her anything and he’d like to keep it that way. He’d have to be cautious she didn’t realize he was different, she was a sharp one. 

There was another name but mentioned as an ally. A man who was living in the Kudou house named Okiya Subaru. Shinichi didn’t explain much but he assured he was someone who could be trusted with anything but the fact he’s Kaitou KID. He’d prefer to keep that one under the counter, Kaito agreed. He was at his limit with people knowing their situation. 

Kaito decided it was worthwhile to share the fact Hakuba knows he’s KID well, but to keep denying it if he does ask. He asked if he has shown up in class yet, Shinichi said he hadn’t just yet. This gave Kaito some relief at least. The thief put his phone back into his pocket, releasing a breath. The train ride back was rather boring, but Kaito couldn’t help but go back to tracing the bullet scar with his finger.

He might have to ask what happened if Kudou was willing to share.


	4. Small Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito finds himself with a little down time before organizing a heist, He finds himself using this time to enertain kids and poke fun at Shinichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Formatting did not want to work with me and I have zero patience as of posting so I apologize for how this chapter looks. I'll try again later perhaps. 
> 
> A bit of a shorter, fun chapter for this week, I haven't been feeling well so writing has been going slow. 
> 
> Finals are next week so I'll probably silent for then, but after is a long break so hopefully, my motivation will return.

Doito Katsuki changed Doito Katsuki to The Better Kudou

The Better Kudou changed NotKID to Small Detective

Small Detective: RUDE

The Better Kudou: you know its true! i'm living your life better than you do

Small Detective: I hate to admit it but you do play a little kid entirely too well, you need to tone it down.

Small Detective: But also what the HELL are you doing?

Small Detective: You better not do anything to get yourself killed, by extension getting me killed.

The Better Kudou: chill out geez im just living you know

The Better Kudou: i havent done anything that isnt out of the ordinary for you

The Better Kudou: although i didnt realize you acted like a kid in front of police officers too. that was a fun experience.

Kaito couldn’t help but giggle at their exchange. Only two days had passed since the two met in Ekoda, but Kaito had been texting nonstop. He was bored as hell living the stuffy life Conan leads and Tantei-kun was so much fun to annoy. He seemed more preoccupied with returning to normal, rather than relaxing. The thief wouldn’t be surprised if he dropped dead from stress at this rate. He thought the teasing would help, but apparently not. 

“Kuroba-san you better not be giving Kudou-kun any grief.” Haibara whispered to Kaito. 

Kaito looked over at the shrunken scientist. She was glaring at him in a way that wasn’t immediately obvious to the kids who came over to play. 

“Relax! It’s all good!” 

“Oh yeah, because ‘The Better Kudou’ is definitely not making this any better.” 

“D-don’t look at my phone!” Kaito pulled the phone to his chest, hiding the messages from Haibara’s snooping eyes.

“You're not even supposed to be texting him in public.” 

“We aren’t in public, we’re in a private home in a residential neighborhood.”

“With three prying, curious children who should definitely not be aware of the situation inside said home.”

Kaito fell into a nervous silence. 

“I’ll stop now..”

“Mmmhmm..” 

Kaito turned his phone on standby with a press of the button, sighing. The kids didn’t notice him, too preoccupied with a game the professor made. There was nothing else to do but watch, Haibara didn’t allow him to look for gems to steal while the kids were over, and they couldn’t discuss anything without the kids getting involved. All this left him was with his thoughts and anxious hands. 

“Woah!! Conan how did you do that??” The yell from Mitsuhiko snapped him out of his trance. 

“H-huh? Did what?” 

“That thing with the coin!! I didn’t even see it move between your hands!” 

“No way! I missed it, show me again!” Genta turned from the game. 

“Eh?! What did Conan-kun do??” Ayumi now spoke up. 

Kaito looked down at his hands to find a small 100 yen coin tucked between his index and middle fingers. He recognized it as the maneuver he usually did to make it disappear into thin air. He glanced up at the kids, a nervous feeling welling up inside him.

_‘Oh shit-’_

Kaito placed his usual poker face on and laughed, holding up the coin he had been messing with. Time for some fast thinking. 

“Ah it’s nothing… I’ve been learning magic to figure out how KID does his tricks.” He lied.

_‘Not technically a lie, since I am KID.’_

“Show us more, please!” The excited kids clamored. 

“Well… I mean if you WANT to see more…” Kaito smiled.

He could feel Haibara’s icy glare burning a hole through him, but Kaito was never one to turn down a magic show. That could be considered a flaw of his right now, if he wasn’t so elated to do tricks in front of a crowd. The kids were awed at every trick he performed, even if he was keeping just to the simple ones such as ‘making a coin appear behind your ear’ and the numerous ‘pick a card’ tricks he knew. He may have thrown a little bit of glitter in for effect, but it didn’t harm anything right?

He could feel the professor’s tired stare digging into him as he threw a little more glitter around.

Something was off, he noticed, his body was a little slower. It wasn’t noticeable on the outside, but he wasn’t as dexterous as he was used to. It bugged him greatly, He shrugged it off, for now, It was probably a result of the swap. He just hoped it wouldn’t cause him any issues in the future. 

“Conan-kun, You’re just like KID!!” Ayumi exclaimed, her face glowing with excitement. 

“Pfft… I’m not like KID!! I’m better!” He arrogantly exclaimed. 

He realized his mistake as Haibara sighed, planting a hand firmly on her face. The kids stared curiously at him, wondering what he meant by that.

“I mean… KID’s a criminal so of course, I’m better.” He weakly covered. 

The kids seemed to accept it hesitantly.

“KID knows a lot more than you do anyways.” Mitsuhiko innocently explained. “You’re just learning after all!” 

The kids laughed at Kaito’s anguished face. 

_‘If only they knew…’_ He moped. 

The kids returned to the game, but not after trying to figure out how their friend did all those tricks. It was exhausting, but the looks on their faces made it all the worthwhile. He missed seeing the smiling faces of those who watched him perform.

“Good job at covering, KID.” Haibara muttered. 

He could tell she was pissed at him, the air was stone-cold around her. 

“I’m sorry, okay? I fell into old patterns. You can’t blame me.” The magician excused. 

“I can and will.” 

“C’monnnn…” 

His phone began to buzz lightly, the text buzz Kaito recognized. He clicked his phone on, only to see a message from his beloved Tantei-kun light up the screen. 

Small Detective: Kuroba, Hakuba’s been texting me. He’s worried about you.

The Better Kudou: oh now hes worried and not the other millions of times i was almost killed under his watch

The Better Kudou: why are you texting me about this you know what to say

Small Detective: He’s coming back. 

Small Detective: Also, why is his name “Haku-bastard” in your phone?

“Damn.” Kaito muttered aloud. 

“What’s up?” Haibara peeked over to Kaito’s phone. 

“That Bastard Hakuba is coming back. Like we didn’t need our lives to be any more difficult.” 

“Hakuba… Do you mean the High School Detective who’s been chasing you? Hakuba Saguru?”

“The very same. He’s smart, I don’t doubt he won’t at least suspect something is going on with me. Kudou’s been chalking up everything to stress and or a cold when people ask apparently, but that explanation isn’t going to go far with Hakuba.” 

“Have some trust in him, He’ll figure something out. After all, they’re both detectives.” Haibara assured. 

“Yeah…” 

Another buzz came from his phone. Haibara sighed, Her attempts at warning him were clearly not working. 

Small Detective: Anyways I wanted to ask do you take medicine or something? Aoko keeps reminding “me” to take my meds and always escorts me to find them.

The Better Kudou: ah yes thats the ADHD. Aoko is pretty serious about having me remember despite my totally perfect memory so have fun with that! remember that rsd is a bitch and youll be fine

Small Detective: Wait, if you have ADHD why am I not feeling any of it? It feels pretty much normal, minus a few changes.

The Better Kudou: youre probably neurodivergent yourself if youre used to it because i know i can focus a bit better in your body without drugs. But! it is a little easier to get overwhelmed, not by much though

The Better Kudou: youd probably wanna do some research into that once this is over

The Better Kudou: anyways the meds help a little, it doesnt cure it, which could also be why you arent feeling as much

The Better Kudou: after all the chemistry in our bodies isnt changing therefore... have fun dealing with my mental illness shin-chan~

Small Detective: Please don’t call me that...

Small Detective: But you should have told me that you have ADHD a week ago, day one was hell!!

The Better Kudou: you didnt ask! Do you expect me to just tell you that hi im mentally ill i cant function like a normal person without drugs when weve just switched bodies???

Kaito huffed and clicked his phone onto standby, shoving it into his pocket. The phone buzzed again, Kaito ignored it. Haibara gave him a sideways glance, her face twisting in confusion. 

“Can’t go five minutes without trouble huh, great thief?” She muttered. 

“Not my fault Kudou’s bein’ Kudou.” 

“Ah. And you’re not antagonizing him, ‘Better Kudou’?” 

“Oi.”

That was all that was exchanged as the two went back to their business. Kaito couldn’t help but continue to mess with the 100 yen coin in his hand as he watched the kids play their game.

God, he was so bored. 

The next day Kaito was contacted by Shinichi with a list of possible targets. They talked it back and forth, figuring out which would work depending on when they were being exhibited. They decided with the Sundrop Diamond, A large yellow diamond in the shape of a teardrop tightly twisted onto a ring. The diamond was entirely too big for the ring, but it was a perfect target to put on a show for. The exhibition was coming soon as well, all they had to do was make a plan and send out a card.

The only thing really that was a problem was the rumors that it was being bought by someone else at this time, meaning the exhibition location may change before the actual date. Kaito was just texting Shinichi about the next they should meet up to plan, when the door to the detective agency was slammed open, startling the three inside. 

“Ran! Raaan!” 

It was that girl, Suzuki Sonoko, the one who was absolutely obsessed with Kaito’s persona. She was clutching her phone to her chest and Kaito could swear she was vibrating at a speed that humans should not be capable of vibrating at. 

“Calm down, What’s going on Sonoko?” Ran looked to where she was sitting on the couch, closing the book she was reading. 

“Have you seen the news yet??” 

“News?” 

Sonoko practically flung her phone at Ran’s face as she showed her the image. Kaito got up off from the opposite couch, running over to see as well, his curiosity chewing at him. 

“Uncle Jirokichi’s deal for the Sundrop Diamond went through and he’s sent a challenge out to KID-sama!” 

“What?!” Both Ran and Kaito exclaimed. 

Sure enough, the image on the phone was a challenge from the old man himself, flashy as always. The old detective scoffed, folding up the newspaper he was reading. 

“I suppose he’ll need help huh? Well, The great detective Mouri Kogoro is always willing to lend a hand, I suppose.” Kogoro boasted.

He laughed boisterously. Kaito felt himself die a little inside, this man was just too much sometimes.

_‘Just who do you think you are…?’_

“Actually, No. Uncle Jirokichi said we only need this brat this time. At least in the room with the diamond.”

“Eh?” Kaito responded. “Just me?”

“Yeah, Because KID can’t disguise as you, if you’re the only one in the room with a gas mask it’s a guaranteed victory… or so he says.” Sonoko explained.

_‘Oh boy if only he knew…’_

Kaito resisted the urge to laugh, this dude was about to endanger a child just to catch a thief! Before he could protest the man’s reckless actions, Ran beat him to it. 

“No! I won’t let Conan-kun be in danger like that! I don’t care if he’s the ‘KID Killer’, it’s not right to just let a child do that!”

“I said the same thing, but he has complete confidence in the little brat,” Sonoko muttered. 

_‘Good to know he’s sticking to his guns…’_

“It’s not like he’ll be able to beat my beloved KID-Sama anyways!”

_‘Oh! if only she knew I was right here!’_

Now Kaito was excited. He found himself barely withholding a snicker, earning him a look from everyone in the room. 

“And just what is so funny?” Sonoko interrogated. 

“Ah… No…” Kaito backed away as Sonoko lowered herself to be on eye level with him. “Just a joke I remembered!”

She huffed, glaring at the child and backing off. 

“Anyways, The official announcement is tomorrow but he’s moving the exhibition start date to this Saturday, I can get you your tickets tomorrow at school, Ran.” 

“Thank you Sonoko. Ah… Don’t forget his ticket as well…” Ran mumbled, her cheeks flushing a soft shade of pink. 

“Still holding out for your boyfriend eh?” Sonoko snickered. 

“It’s… I mean, He might come? If I send him a message...” 

Sonoko teased Ran some more and Kaito grew bored of listening to a conversation that wasn’t even meant for him in the first place. He opened his phone and discreetly texted Kudou about the information he learned. He mentioned it all as if he were talking with an acquaintance, it was what they decided on in case anyone decided to spy on their messages. He let Kudou know about the extra ticket, subtly letting him know that the option for him to come as himself is available. 

With the exhibition being moved to Saturday, that meant there was a very small window that Shinichi could get over to Beika and discuss plans. 

They would have to work very fast.


	5. The First Heist Pt. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first heist begins finally, But two unexpected detectives show up...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before finals week, sorry. I wanted to relieve some stress so here's this chapter a little earlier than intended. 
> 
> There's some minor anxiety response in this chapter. 
> 
> I hope y'all are having a lovely week!

The pair sent the announcement accepting the invite the day before the exhibition opened. 

Their plan was a relatively simple one. They knew that this gem wasn’t Pandora, so really this was just to show that KID was alive and well for now. It was dangerous due to the fact of Snake’s gang still being out there… but they were probably not watching this gem, more likely they were watching the ‘Verdant Eye’. Kaito couldn’t help but assume it was still in police custody, given that the old man decided to use this one instead of the emerald. Who knows why they weren’t striking just yet, it was curious to Kaito. 

The day of the heist came quickly, the unlikely duo had been up all night with minor preparations. He met Shinichi beforehand, a good hour before the heist was actually set to take place. 

“Hey, before we talk business... can I ask a personal question?”

Shinichi looked at him curiously. “What’s up?”

“Are they… Y’know? Behaving?” Kaito muttered. 

“Who?" 

"My doves." Kaito muttered. 

"Doves? Oh, you mean the ones that like to roost in your KID Lair?"

Kaito felt a blush grow on his face. “Yeah... Haro grows restless if she’s not fed on time which gets on Luna’s nerves, which makes her mate, Clover, protective, and if she grows protective-” Kaito began to ramble. 

Shinichi patted Kaito’s head, causing him to stop rambling. He felt an electric shock tingle through his body, He did _not_ like being touched on his head, He didn't know why. Sure, He didn't like it more than the other person but that electric shock wasn't usually his reaction. That hand needed to be removed _NOW_.

He looked up to Shinichi’s nervous face, swatting the hand away. He made an apologetic face in response to Kaito's own annoyed one. 

“Geez, You really do care about those doves. They’re fine. I’ve been feeding them, they’re all good.” Shinichi assured, the nervous look on his face not fading. 

Kaito released a sigh he didn’t realize he was holding. He had been wanting to ask about the doves for a long time, but he never knew how to go about it. The doves were really all he had at home, it was important to him that they stayed safe. 

“Are… You good?” He asked the nervous-looking detective, Kaito's own mind at ease now. 

“Yeah, Just nerves.”

Kaito could tell what the detective was thinking.

“You won’t get caught. Trust me, I’ll be there if it does happen. If it goes well, It’s all on me, Remember?” 

“Yeah…”

He could tell that wasn’t enough. Kaito sighed, patting the detective on his leg. 

“She won’t see through it, after all, It’s really you this time. Just keep it on the low down, I’d rather you not be doing weird stuff with my body.”

Shinichi flushed pink, growling at Kaito. “Just what are you insisting?!”

Kaito snickered. “C’mon it’s written all over your face. You’re thinkin’ about you and her-”

“Shut up!!”

“Well then, Ran’s waiting, Meitantei!” Kaito teased, taking a few steps back from the detective. 

“You little-!”

The pair argued for a bit before Kaito realized something important.

“You got your earpiece?” The thief asked, tapping his own.

“Yeah, Who do you think I am?” Shinichi pulled a lock of hair back, showing the earpiece.

“Perfect. You’ll be able to hear what’s goin’ on over on my end as well.” Kaito held up his sleeve, showing the small, nearly invisible microphone he wore.

Shinichi nodded, determined. Kaito smiled, this night was going to be highly amusing, he could tell. 

As the pair got closer to the museum where the heist was taking place, Sonoko gasped and pointed to Shinichi (now disguised as himself). 

“He’s actually here?!” She gasped in disbelief. 

Ran’s face glowed with a hidden delight. Kaito could tell how much she missed him being around daily, it made him glad that she could have this small piece to hold close. She looked like she wanted to say something, but remained silent, Shinichi met her expression with a similar one. 

_'These two I swear.'_

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shinichi said instead. “I had some free time and decided to come.” 

Ran opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a new voice.

“Then, It’s definitely KID alright.” the new, familiar voice snickered. 

The two turned around to find a familiar face behind them. Kaito recognized her as the girl detective who gave him a nasty beating, as well as the one Kudou warned him about, Sera Masumi. 

“Sera-san, Why are you here?” Sonoko questioned. 

“Ah, I invited her since Dad isn’t coming.” Ran spoke up.

_‘More like he’s moping.’_

“I also came to see what all the fuss was about. Besides, that thief owes me a rematch!” She punched her hand menacingly, causing both Shinichi and Kaito to flinch slightly. 

Even if this body didn’t have the experience, Kaito’s cheek still hurt remembering that night. He could see Sera eyeing both of them, a confused look on her face. 

“Well, Now at least two detectives are on the case.” Ran smiled. 

“Hmph, Invite all the detectives you want! It won’t be a problem for KID-sama!”

Kaito caught a glimpse of Shinichi's defeated expression, Kaito felt elated. Even if he wasn’t being KID right now, it still stoked his ego to hear people talk about him like that.

“Well then! Shall we head in? It’s gonna get packed soon.” Sonoko suggested. 

“Ah! Wait, I wanna talk to this guy here for a second!” Sera grabbed Shinichi’s sleeve.

“Huh? About what?” Shinichi inquired. 

“You guys go on ahead, we’ll catch up.” Sera shooed. 

“Mmh… Don’t take too long. The place'll be packed before you know it!” Sonoko grabbed Ran’s sleeve, pulling her off. 

Kaito could faintly hear Sonoko enthusing about her ‘beloved KID-sama’ under Ran’s protests. Kaito looked at Shinichi, he gave him a subtle thumbs up. The thief nodded, leaving him alone with the female detective. 

“Wait for me Ran-neechan!” 

The room was relatively simple inside. One gilded, very fancy sculpted glass case, with a few glass diamonds embedded into it and the ring inside it, the room filled with task force guards. The diamond was a stunning yellow color, Kaito would have loved to see it sparkling in the moonlight if they hadn’t already found Pandora. He tapped his earpiece discreetly, turning it on. All he heard was silence, It seems Shinichi hadn’t turned on his yet. 

“There he is! The KID Killer! Over here!” The voice of Jirokichi echoed across the room. 

Kaito looked around the room, barely able to see much besides the case with all the people in the room. 

“Conan-kun, here.” Ran offered her hand. “Don’t get lost now.”

Kaito hesitantly accepted the hand, allowing Ran to lead him. He didn’t acknowledge it until now but… Ran reminded him somewhat of Aoko. 

_‘How humiliating.’_

The three of them made their way across the room, following a separate hall to where the police had set up camp further inside the museum. They were led down the hall, Jirokichi bragging all the way about the amazing security system the police set up until they reached a small room where the security cameras were set up. Inside was Inspector Nakamori, his gaze steeled on the cameras like usual. 

“Any sign of that sneak-thief?” Jirokichi asked. 

“No, but he’ll show his face sooner or later. I know it.” 

Kaito held back a smirk. 

_‘I’m closer than you realize, Keibu~.’_

“Are you ready, boy?” Nakamori turned to look at Kaito. 

Nakamori seemed just as uncomfortable as Ran about leaving a child in the room with the thief. 

“Yeah, As much as I can be.” He replied. 

“I’m still not comfortable with Conan-kun being alone in a room with a thief… You’re sure no harm will come to him?” Ran pleaded with a worried expression. 

“We’ll do our best. The room is set up with security cameras with special night vision, and from here we can remotely deploy a sleeping gas that’ll knock the thief out before he can even get anywhere close to the diamond. That is if he can even get into the room. The kid will have a gas mask as well, the gas won’t affect him in any way.” Nakamori bragged. 

“I see..” Kaito muttered. 

_‘That would be a problem… If we didn’t just hear all that.’_

“Anyways! Don’t get in the officer's way in the meantime, Remember that there are only fifty minutes before KID comes! The room needs to be clear ten minutes before!”

“Yes!” Kaito responded cheerfully. 

_‘They aren’t going to know what hit them.’_

As the three left the room, Kaito checked his earpiece.

“You got that, right? Detective in White?” He whispered. 

“Really? Detective in white? But… yeah I heard that. Sleeping gas, huh?” 

The line fell silent as Shinichi seemed to look somewhere else. Kaito muttered a soft ‘hello?’ as Shinichi scoffed. 

“He’s here.” 

“Huh?”

“Hakuba.” 

Kaito’s eyes widened, He can’t say he didn’t expect Hakuba to be here, but he didn’t think he’d be back so soon. A smirk crawled up onto his face.

“Two pesky detectives huh? Looks like things are getting interesting.” 

“Anyways, You got the inside, and I’ve got the outside. Keep those two distracted, I can’t cut the power if they’re breathing down my neck.”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll go get the cameras and gas.”

Kaito began the difficult task of setting up the switch to loop the cameras. The cameras had a separate generator this time, one that Kaito couldn’t find for the life of him, not to mention the night vision the inspector mentioned. They had to go to their plan B for that, loop the cameras so they didn’t see the small thief picking the lock. It was easy to get into the room, Being the KID Killer had some advantages if he came under the pretense of investigation. He was able to set up the remote device in a hidden spot, when the time came he could loop the footage in the room with a press of a button. He muttered a quick affirmation to Shinichi, who responded in turn with an affirmation to the main generator being sabotaged. 

The next thing Kaito needed to do was make sure Hakuba and Sera didn’t interfere with the rest of Kudo’s preparations. He found Hakuba relatively easily, He was the type to focus more on the gem rather than the surroundings. Kaito couldn’t help but wonder just what he was setting up as he wandered around the case.

The thief swallowed his pride for one small moment, he couldn’t believe what he was about to call Hakuba. 

“Hakuba-Niichan!” 

“Oh? Conan-kun, You’re here.” 

“Mh! What are you doing here?”

“I was worried about a classmate, I came back from London to check on him. I figured since KID was coming while I was here, I might as well lend a hand.”

_‘This might be a good time to see if he realizes or not…’_

“A classmate? I hope he’s okay then.”

“He’s… okay I suppose.” He muttered. “He’s been acting… strange. I suppose it is almost midterms…” 

“That’s probably the case. Oh! Speaking of cases, You did something to this didn’t you!”

Kaito pointed to the case, hoping Hakuba may spill something he had planned. 

“Not in the slightest, not yet at least. I can’t tell you, however. You never know where KID is listening in from.” 

_‘I’m right here…’_

“Mmm, I got it! I’d better go find the second detective here! See ya, Hakuba... Niichan!” 

Kaito’s mouth felt dry after saying that, he had to hold a gag back. He didn’t want to call Hakuba his Niichan ever again. Hakuba raised an eyebrow, no doubt his detective curiosity was activated.

“Second detective? Wait, Conan-kun!” 

It was too late, Kaito had already vanished into the crowd. Hakuba shouldn’t cause Shinichi any problems at this rate but Sera on the other hand…

He spotted her easily, as it appeared she was searching for someone as well. 

“Who are you looking for Sera-Neechan?”

“Neechan?” Sera immediately responded. 

“Ah, I mean…” 

_‘Wait, does he use something different for her? He didn’t tell me that!’_

“It’s fine, It’s fine… I’m just looking for that guy, Y’know... _Kudo-kun_.”

The way she said Kudo-kun put Kaito on alert. If everything Shinichi told him was correct, She already knew that he wasn’t actually a child. Therefore having both of them show up puts him at risk of being revealed as KID, or worse, She realizes that the kid is actually KID this time. 

“Ah, I’m sure he’s around.”

“Hm… Yeah… Keep your guard up around him, Conan-kun… I don’t know what he’s playing at but I’m going to figure it out.”

_‘Oi Oi… What did he tell her??’_

Kaito really had no choice at that point but to trail her as well as keep an eye on the general surroundings. He kept relaying back to Shinichi the general situation and in turn with how the preparations were going. When they finally met up He noticed that Shinichi now was wearing a low brimmed cap as well as different clothes. Did he run into trouble somewhere? 

“Why did you change?” He asked. 

“Sera. Got a little too close for comfort, that’s all.”

Kaito made a noise of understanding, She really was being a troublemaker, wasn’t she?

“Anyways, How did it look?” Kaito quietly asked. 

“A few guards on the roof, they should be easy to take down with some sleeping gas. I had the masks sabotaged beforehand, they won’t know what hit them. Just be sure not to use one of theirs.

“Doing some extra credit I see? What a good student you are~!” Kaito snickered. “Don’t worry, I stored it in the room beforehand.”

Shinichi shot Kaito an annoyed look, he responded with his own cocky grin. Shinichi looked back to the crowd of excited KID fans. 

“The charges are set on the skylight above the target. When the time comes I’ll be able to make an appearance and get out fast. You just focus on being the KID Killer.”

Kaito smirked. Everything was going according to their plan so far. The only problem was Sera following Kudo everywhere once she spotted him. The change probably threw her off for a little, but Kaito couldn’t be with him for too long now without someone being suspicious. 

“Anyways, What do we do about that one?” Kaito pointed to Sera, who was still searching the audience for the vanished Kudou Shinichi. 

“Not sure… I don’t think she’ll be that easy to get rid of this time…”

“... How long does one of those wristwatch tranquilizers last?”

“Without tolerance to it? About thirty minutes I suppose. With tolerance? The longest the old man has been down for is about 15-ish minutes. You gonna use it on her?” 

“She trusts me, I think, It should be easy. I’ll just need help to hide her.” 

Shinichi released a sigh. “Fair enough. Let's make it quick. You only have the one needle, remember that.” 

With a nod, Kaito set their impromptu plan into motion. He led Sera down an isolated hallway, He simply told her that he found something suspicious and needed help, Kudou following at a safe distance as to not alert the female detective. The moment her back was turned, he pulled the tranquilizer wristwatch he kept tucked in his pocket, shooting it at her neck. She collapsed without a sound, prompting Kudou to rush in and helping Kaito hide her unconscious body in the nearby bathroom, locked neatly in a stall. 

Kaito felt like he just had to hide a dead body. He'd knocked people out before but this felt... different. He couldn't put his finger quite on why. 

“That was probably one of the worst things I’ve done.” Kaito muttered.

“Agreed. Sera is going to kill either one of us or both of us once she wakes up… Let’s never speak of this again?”

“Definitely.”

The pair finalized their plans (Kaito couldn’t help but give Shinichi a hard time about possibly getting distracted by Ran), giving each other a quiet ‘good luck’ as they went back to their positions. It was almost time for the room to be cleared and for Kaito to take his position.

The small thief just hoped that Hakuba hadn't caught on entirely. That was the last thing he needed now.


	6. The First Heist Pt. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heist is finally underway, And Shinichi is not ready at all. 
> 
> Kaito is having the time of his life on the other hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about taking so long to post this! I was actually terrified to post this one, I hope everything is okay!
> 
> Finals took entirely too long to complete, but I am back and taking the time to rest and relax! 
> 
> Updates will be a bit slower from now on, My apologies.

“Is everything all good in there, Boy?” Kaito heard Nakamori say over the radio he was given. 

“Yep! Can you see me good?” He waved his hands to the four cameras in the corners of the room. 

“Everything is working correctly! Remember, You don’t need to catch him, Just keep him preoccupied!” Jirokichi said, his voice sounding farther from the radio than Nakamori did. 

“Yes~!” Kaito responded cheerfully. 

_‘Too easy~.’_

His mind wandered back to what Hakuba said about the case as he took a glance at the glittering Jewel. Did he end up doing something after all to it? He couldn’t see anything at a glance, but Hakuba wasn’t one to do obvious things. He noticed the key lock as well, it was strange that they decided to use such a lock but apparently, that was just how they wanted to do things this time, Kaito wasn’t one to complain. 

“Five minutes people!” Kaito heard someone announce over the radio. 

Kaito discreetly swapped out his gas mask for the one he brought. He put it on, giving a thumbs up to the camera. He could feel his lockpick tools burning a hole in his pocket, eager to be used. A grin crept onto his face, hidden behind the mask he wore. 

_‘I hope you’re prepared, Kudou...’_

The five minutes were almost over as soon as they started. He could hear the countdown begin through the radio. 

“Five… Four… Three… Two…”

“One.” Kaito slowly whispered, pressing the button to begin the blackout and loop the footage. 

He could hear the chaos erupt from outside as soon as the power was cut. His fans outside began to cheer louder, filling him with a sense of pride. 

“You got five minutes.” He quickly hissed into his earpiece. 

He got an affirmation from the detective. 

He flicked out his wire from his pocket, setting to work on the lock. He could hear police yelling from outside the doors as he did so. Kaito quietly snickered at the resulting chaos. The radio crackled to life, Nakamori screaming in the background. 

“Kid, Kid? Everything okay?!”

Kaito grabbed the radio idly, working away at the lock. 

“Mm! No sign of KID yet! You can see me right? It’s totally dark in here, besides the glow of the moon I can’t see anything!” He said as he continued to work on the lock.

Okay, He admitted he went a little hard on the child persona, but he didn’t think anyone noticed. He growled as he failed once more to open the lock, his hands wouldn’t move like he wanted them to. 

“I’m on the roof, Hit it!” Kudou whispered into his earpiece.

“Slow down!” Kaito hissed, “I’m working as fast as I can!”

Kaito sighed with relief as the lock finally clicked open. He slipped on a pair of gloves and quickly grabbed the gem, only pausing to admire its glow in the moonlight. What can he say? Old habits die hard. 

“I got the target, Get ready for evacuation.” He finally confirmed.

Kaito slipped the gem into a hidden pocket he specifically spent the night sewing for this. He placed his card, proclaiming he stole the gem. With another press of a button, the skylight exploded into shards of glass, causing Kaito to duck and cover. He took a deep breath as soon as the glass settled.

“KID! KID’s here!!” He yelled. “Hurry!!”

The room was almost immediately flooded with guards following the noise, in time to see KID standing dangling in the skylight, holding the fake they had made ahead of time. 

_‘Now’s the time not to get stage fight, meitantei.’_

“Oi, Oi, That’s a lot of officers…” Kaito heard Shinichi whisper. 

Kaito heard someone in the crowd shout something about the sleeping gas not working, Kaito held back a smile. 

“C’mon. We’re almost done.” Kaito hissed. 

Shinichi laughed, it was strange to Kaito to hear his voice like this. It echoed around the room, the confident laugh that everyone knew belonged to KID. Seeing the detective dressed in Kaito’s usual brilliant white outfit was strange as well. He was dangling by one hand, Kaito could barely see the wire holding him in place, giving him the illusion he was exiting. He pocketed the gem, a cocky smirk visible on his face. 

“I’ve claimed the Sundrop Diamond as my own! I challenge you, anyone, who is brave enough to take it to try!” He loudly announced, much to the bemusement of Nakamori and his men.

_‘Not what I’d have said but okay, it works.’_

KID’s fans screamed with adoration, hearing their beloved thief proclaim his victory. 

Kaito grit his teeth, feigning anger. In reality, Kaito was giddy in a whole different way than a heist usually makes him feel. It was strange being the one in the background, but it was entertaining knowing that no one would truly know what had happened. 

Kaito watched as Shinichi ran out of view, a horde of police officers rushing out the doors after him. Kaito fell over, pretending to be knocked down in the resulting stampede. 

The only one who didn’t leave was Hakuba, who was inspecting the case closely. Kaito caught him taking something off the case, something he didn’t notice was there before. He couldn’t see what it was, as he removed it he bolted from the room. 

_‘What did he take off..?’_

Kaito cautiously made sure no one else was in the room before placing the diamond back on the pedestal, leaving a “this wasn’t what I was looking for” card before running back out. In that second the power returned, blinding the small thief for a small moment. He looked out a nearby window, seeing the dummy that they planned to deploy fly off. The police foolishly chased it, like always. Which meant it was time to leave, Kudou should have already disguised as himself again, meeting back up with the others. Kaito couldn’t help but have a giddy, childish grin as he walked out, he didn’t expect this to go over so well!

“You look happy, for the diamond being stolen.” 

Kaito turned around, seeing Hakuba standing behind him. They were still in the main hallway, no one else was around. Kaito could still make a break for it if needed. 

“Ah, Hakuba…n-niichan...” Kaito whispered. “I thought you ran off with the police.”

Something felt off to Kaito, he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“I came back to check something... But maybe… perhaps it returned already?” 

“I’m not sure, I ran out of the room before the lights turned on. It's possible KID returned it.” Kaito laughed hesitantly. 

Kaito realized what was off, Hakuba’s voice was ever so slightly pitched too high. 

“I see what’s going on.” He muttered, annoyed.

The magician glared at ‘Hakuba’, who burst into a mischievous smile. 

“You asshole. I was actually scared for a second there.” Kaito growled.

“I had you though, Pretty good right?” Shinichi returned to his normal voice. 

Something about Hakuba’s face with Kaito’s voice coming out of it really disturbed Kaito, he hadn’t thought about it before. He had to admit, however, He didn’t think the detective could grasp something like that as quickly as he had. 

“So was that the real Hakuba who took something off the case?”

“Proba... Wait, Hakuba took something away from the room?” 

“Yeah. I’m not sure what it was though.” Kaito crossed his arms in thought, “Anyways, You should probably get out of here, if Hakuba sees you, you’re in trouble.” Kaito warned. 

“I’m well aware of that fact.” Shinichi returned back to Hakuba’s voice. 

“You might want to take it a little lower, Like a minuscule amount. You’re pitching it too high.” Kaito said, leaving the hall. 

He found the group rather easily once he got outside, but he noticed someone new talking with the group of three. Their back was turned, but Kaito could recognize that hairstyle anywhere. 

“A-Aoko??” He spluttered. 

He was lucky he was still far away from them, but why the hell was Aoko here?! And talking with Ran anyway?? 

In a flurry, Kaito reopened the line with the communicator. 

“Aoko is here, Why is Aoko here??” He hissed. 

“Shit! I forgot! I couldn’t get out of her trying to drag me to the heist! I mean you- You know what the hell I mean!”

“Ugh, You didn’t promise did you?”

The line remained silent. 

“Shinichi, You promised didn’t you?”

“Maybe. She was so adamant about it!”

“Fuck, do you know how serious she takes her promises??” 

He heard rustling coming from the other side of the line. 

“Anyways- Fuck…- I’ll come over, No disguises okay?”

“Wait until you’re outside, idiot, don’t do that in there!” 

Kaito couldn’t believe he had to instruct someone who’s solved his tricks multiple times in the way of disguises. He may be a detective but he’s too thick-headed sometimes. The line fell dead and Kaito rejoined the group.

It was going to be hard with Aoko around. He could see Sera give him a glare as he rejoined, That was going to be a conversation he did not want to have. 

“Ran-Neechan!” He greeted. 

“Ah! Conan-kun! There you are! I was getting worried…” Ran crouched down to be on Kaito’s level. “You’re not hurt are you? KID didn’t do anything to you?” She made a face and pressed a finger to Kaito’s cheek.

He hissed as it stung slightly, he must have been cut by the falling glass and didn’t realize it. 

“You ARE hurt! Geez, I’m glad I brought bandages now…” She reached into her pocket, taking out a bandage and placing it on Kaito's cheek. 

He made a small noise of protest as she did so, glad that Shinichi wasn’t around to see that. 

“Mouri-san, who’s this?” Aoko asked. 

“Ah, this is Conan-kun, He’s a kid I’m taking care of for the meantime.” 

“Hello…” Kaito muttered, not wanting to look Aoko in the face. 

“It’s very nice to meet you, Conan-kun~.” Aoko sang. 

_‘Damn it stop-’_

Kaito could feel his face growing warm, he would normally try to hide this by playing a trick on Aoko but he couldn’t do that. His position wouldn’t allow him to do that. Instead, he nodded sheepishly, Ran giggled at his flustered response. 

“Anyways, Do you see him? Your friend?” Sera asked, moving her hands to her hips. 

“Mmm… No… He told Aoko that he’d be late but… I didn’t think end-of-heist late…”

“That’s too bad…” Ran muttered, her own eyes looking around, “Oh speaking of missing, Conan-kun, Have you seen Shinichi? I lost him in the power outage…” 

“I think he told me he had something to do after KID vanished, I’m sure he’ll call later.” 

Ran pouted, muttering something about that ‘case-obsessed idiot.’

_‘I’ll have to remind him later to call, she deserves it. I’ll have to call Aoko later too…’_

“Eh? Kudou-kun had something to do? Like what?” Sera kneeled down to Kaito’s level, interrogating him. 

“He didn’t tell me… It’s not really my business is it Sera…N-no-Neechan?”

Her eyebrows furrowed at his response, opening her mouth to say something. She was interrupted by Aoko gasping very loudly.

“Ah! Kaitooooo~!” Aoko gasped, waving her arms. 

Sure enough, at that moment Shinichi, undisguised with Kaito’s real face, approached the group. He was panting exhaustedly as if he had just run around the block.

“Kaito..?” Ran’s eyes widened. 

“Geez, So loud, Calm down, Ahoko.” He grumbled. 

_‘He even knows that… geez.’_

“You’re late, Bakaito!”

“I couldn’t help it! The traffic was nuts because of the heist, I couldn’t get out on time.” 

“You could have texted Aoko! You’re mean!” 

“Um…” Ran interjected. 

“Huh? W-Who’re you guys?” Shinichi couldn’t look Ran in the eyes as he feigned ignorance. 

_‘God he’s gonna blow this.’_

“Ah, sorry… I’m Mouri Ran, This is Suzuki Sonoko, The little boy is Conan Edogawa-kun and that’s-” Ran began to introduce, pointing to each party.

“Masumi Sera, At your service.” Sera interrupted. 

“Ah, Nice to meet you, I suppose.” Shinichi attempted to pretend he didn’t know them, but Kaito could see how obvious it was he knew everyone there. “I’m… K-Kuroba Kaito.” 

_‘Oh dear god he really is going to blow this, why is he not used to the name yet?’_

“Kuroba Kaito? You look… A lot like…” Ran mumbled. 

“Huh?” Shinichi looked at Ran curiously, still not meeting her eyes directly. 

“Ah! No, it’s nothing! It’s great to meet you Kuroba-san!” Ran quickly covered.

_‘Great job, they really are made for each other.’_

“Well, I’m glad you found your friend Nakamori-san, We’ve got to get going now, I’m sure Dad’s getting cranky.” Ran bid farewell.

“Ah wait! Aoko would like to talk more! Could… I get your phone number?”

“Oh, Of course!”

“Ah! Can I get yours too, Nakamori-san?!” Sonoko clambered.

“When did they become fast friends…?” Kaito couldn’t help but mutter. 

It was strange seeing the two worlds collide, and Kaito wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He gave a tired glance to Shinichi, who simply shrugged. Kaito looked back to the girls who were having a great time exchanging numbers, only to see Sera staring a hole into Shinichi. He seems to have noticed too, as soon as he looked at her she looked away. 

Could it be that…? Kaito shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts. That was silly, how could Sera know that he was the real Kudou? Still, it was clear to him that Sera suspected something, they would have to be careful now.

His suspicions were correct as he was pulled aside later on the walk home. 

“What’s wrong, Sera no-neechan?” He innocently asked. 

“What did KID bribe you with? To knock me out.” She got right to the point. 

“Huh? I didn’t knock you out, KID did.” Kaito innocently explained. 

Sera stopped him from walking, crouching down in front of him. 

“You’re not Kudou are you?” She whispered. 

Kaito gulped, taking a step back. 

“Of course not! I’m Conan!” He chirped in the sickly sweet tone Conan always used. 

“You know full well that’s not what I mean. You’re some kid that KID put in to replace him!” 

Kaito paused. He did not expect her to come to this conclusion. 

“Haaaa?!” He breathed, completely confused. “Are you serious?? That’s the conclusion you came to??” Kaito asked, A little bit of his real personality slipping through.

“Well? Where’s the real ‘Edogawa’-kun?” Sera interrogated. 

“I am the real Edogawa.” Kaito muttered in a flat tone. “You’re working too much, Sera-no-neechan.”

“Then why did you flinch when you first saw me? And why did you call me Sera-Neechan before?”

“I-I just forgot, that’s all-”

“Huh? You forgot, huh?? Then why were you and KID workin’ together this time, KID Killer?” Sera leaned forward, continuing to interrogate. 

“I don’t know what you mean! KID and I would never work together! He’s a criminal!” Kaito argued back. 

“Then why did you pick the case? There was no way for KID to steal the gem and return it while being chased by the police, and I KNOW you didn’t just let him steal it that quickly without a fight, so how did he do it?” 

“I have no clue! It’s not like I’m KID!”

Sera interrogated him further, pushing Kaito into a verbal corner. He needed to figure a way out of this or else-

“Oiii! You two, We’re gonna leave you behind if you don’t hurry up!” Sonoko called from down the road. 

“Yes~!” Kaito chirped. “We should go, Sera-no-neechan!” He said before running off towards the group. 

He was saved by Sonoko, He thanked her internally as he ran to catch up.

“Wait! I’m not done with you yet!!” 

Kaito found himself having to stop himself multiple times as he rubbed his cheek, an invisible stinging pain welling up after that close encounter. He hoped she didn’t see him stop himself, she’s already close enough as it is. 

“Damn you Tomboy.”


	7. Domestic life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the heist, Shinichi has to deal with what comes after - especially when you're a student with a project due in a couple of days and have a detective on your back. 
> 
> In the meantime, Kaito is having a crisis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna just extend my thanks to everyone who's enjoyed this story so far!! It means a lot to me!!! I try and read every comment y'all leave on the fic as well as a comment but I appreciate everyone who has left their support! I gotta admit I almost cried when this fic hit 1000 hits, This is the most successful thing I've written as well as the longest... Just... thank you all so much for the support! I hope I can continue going forward with this fic and making it an enjoyable story to read!
> 
> I wanna also thank the amazing AsterAlley on tumblr for their secret Santa gift to me!!
> 
> [here's the link to their wonderful art!!](https://asteralley.tumblr.com/post/638313367310827520/heres-my-gift-for-idiot-detectives-ive-been)  
> Seriously, Go give them your support!
> 
> I do have a tumblr I've been meaning to post this fic onto, but that can be found under @Idiot_Detectives, I'll try and post updates and whatnot there as well.
> 
> In the meantime I hope y'all enjoy this bit more casual chapter, I'm gonna take a break to focus on school for a bit. 
> 
> Thank you guys once again for your amazing support!!!

Shinichi woke that morning with a slight headache. He opened his eyes to the bleary morning sun, yawning. He heard something almost… purr as he did so. The detective sat up in bed to find a dove clinging to his forehead, propped up onto the top of his head. It was still fast asleep, cooing in it’s sleep.   
  
He found Kaito’s doves did that more after he came to visit. Shinichi had a theory that they knew somehow he wasn’t their Kaito, perhaps they were just lonely? He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but he didn’t care. They were living things and he had to take care of them for now. 

Shinichi found they acted more like cats than doves. Kaito even gave them all small collars that rested under their feathers, he assumed that he took them off during heists. 

He shooed the dove off his forehead as he sat up, it flew away and rested on a nearby chair. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. It softly cooed at him, no doubt it wanted breakfast. He made a mental reminder to feed the doves when he was more awake.   
  
He found a text on his- No, Kaito’s?- His phone from Jii. It was a message informing them about how the ‘Verdant Eye’ was under even more investigation from police. Shinichi growled, flopping backwards onto the bed. 

_ ‘Just great…’ _ He internally sighed. 

Kaito only responded to the text from his KID phone, he only sent a broken heart and a seemingly custom KID emoji, it had a tear underneath his monocle.    
  
Kaito was certainly something else, Shinichi determined. He placed the phone down on the bedside table, closing his eyes. He just wanted a few more minutes of-   
  
“KAITO! Get over here! We have to start on the project!” Aoko called from across the street. 

Shinichi blinked as Aoko’s voice echoed through the streets.

_ ‘That’s right. The project.’ _ Shinichi groaned internally as he rolled back out of bed. 

He began to get ready, Struggling with Kaito’s clothing choices. The two of them, even if they looked similar, had vastly different style choices. Shinichi didn’t know how to feel about that, Kaito wore stuff that Shinichi would never touch in a million years. 

He arrived at the Nakamori residence later than he expected, he decided to dress in a blue button down shirt, a black tee and jeans. 

“Geez, Kaito. You’re late.” Aoko frowned as she opened the door. 

“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” He excused, pushing his way past Aoko. 

She huffed as the door closed, She followed Shinichi as he wandered into the living room. His eyes widened to see Akako and Saguru sitting on the sofa - together no less. 

  
“Why are you guys here?” He muttered, leaning on the back of the sofa.

The two turned their necks to look up at him. 

“We’re your partners, remember, Kuroba?” Akako answered, sipping idly on a cup of tea, “It was decided in class last week.”

“We agreed we’d meet up the next day to work on it. I guess you had other things on your mind, Hm?” Saguru added.   
  
“Right, Sorry. I’ve been a little distracted.”    
  
“Go eat breakfast Bakaito. You know how you are in the mornings.” Aoko scolded. 

“You’re not my mom, I don’t have to listen to you.” Shinichi scoffed.    
  
“Just go.” Aoko nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, causing Shinichi to retract with a hiss. 

  
Note: Kaito’s body was oddly sensitive to light touches.

“Why’d you do that?!”    
  
“Because it's 10 am and our project is due in the next two days! Dad’s gonna be made at Aoko if she gets a bad grade on this because Bakaito decided to sleep in!” 

“Okay okay!”    
  
He pouted as he made his way to the kitchen, finding a wide spread of food on the table. No doubt Aoko made this herself. Nakamori-keibu was nowhere to be seen, leading Shinichi to speculate he went to work early due to last night’s heist. Shinichi felt kind of bad, seeing Aoko home alone because of something he did. 

“Kuroba, Can I talk with you?” Akako said, coming around the corner. 

“What’s up?” Shinichi muttered, picking a sausage off of a plate and popping it into his mouth. 

  
Akako looked around the corner, once deeming it safe she moved closer to Shinichi. 

  
“Are you going to be okay, Edogawa-san?”

“Eh?”

“I am willing to assist with your part of the project as to hold appearances, but do you understand and know how to write most of this stuff?”

Shinichi nearly choked on his food, he forgot he introduced himself to Akako as Conan, not Shinichi. 

“Ah Y-Yeah, Koizumi-Neechan.” He said quietly, pitching his voice into a sweet tone, “Ojisan taught me a bunch, I’ll be fine.”

He could see Akako’s face twist into one of discomfort seeing her friend talk in a child-like tone. 

“Please don’t use that tone. Ever.” She spat.

“R-Right…”

“I guess we have nothing to worry about in terms of our grades then. Having Kuroba’s grade drop would be bad for you, and for me eventually.” She sighed, folding her arms behind her back, “Hurry up and come back, Nakamori-chan’s getting anxious.” She mumbled, turning to leave.

“Wait, Koizumi-Neechan.”

She looked back at Shinichi, a slightly distressed look on her face. “You… Don’t need to call me that with that face.”

“S-Sorry… It’s just that… From what I heard from Kaito-niichan’s classmates, You have a crush on him. You shouldn’t act differently just because I’m not Kaito-niichan… At least in class. It would be bad for my cover.” Shinichi offered.

Akako scoffed, a small pink glow coming to her cheeks. “A-A crush??” She spat, “...Why would I try and court a child? Sorry, I refuse. Although, I was surprised to find that you are immune to my charms. I guess it has to do with you being a child.” 

“R-Right, A child…” Shinichi mumbled, his face growing warm with embarrassment. 

That thought didn’t… really occur to him, now that he was temorarily back to living a teenager’s life.

“I’ll be going back to the others now if that’s everything.” Akako simply said, leaving Shinichi alone in the kitchen with a flick of her hair. 

What a convoluted situation he’s found himself in….

\-----

A few hours passed and the project was going smoothly enough. Shinichi kept catching shocked glances from Akako whenever Shinichi stated something that even Kaito wouldn’t have known, nor have cared to know. He couldn’t help himself. If he was going to keep Kaito’s grade up, he was going to do this right. He… was probably going to blow his cover here soon if he kept it up. 

Still, he found the situation to be at least a little amusing, in a “I-can’t-believe-this-is-actually-happening” sort of way.

“Hey, Kaito,” Aoko spoke up midway through typing the paper, “What’s your opinion on that Ran person we met last night? From the all of five minutes you met her, Aoko means.” 

“Huh?” Shinichi looked up from Kaito’s computer, mildly startled, “I mean. She’s nice. Why do you want to know?”

“Mm, No reason. Aoko thought she was fun to hang around. Besides, I think it’s funny that she’s basically Aoko’s twin!” Aoko giggled. 

Shinichi saw Saguru hold back a laugh at Aoko’s reaction, Akako reacted similarly. 

“Yeah, I suppose it is funny, Who’da thought…” Shinichi muttered. 

“What are you muttering about, Kuroba?” Saguru asked suddenly. 

“Nothing that concerns you.” Shinichi excused.

“Don’t start you two, We’re almost done with our work for today…” Aoko sighed. 

Saguru’s face suddenly changed to a rather pensive look.

“.... Can we talk for a bit, Kuroba?” Saguru stood up from where he was sitting, closing his computer neatly. 

Akako raised an eyebrow at Saguru’s sudden question. Aoko tilted her head slightly.

“Can’t we talk after our work?” Shinichi tilted his head. 

“Bakaito?! Caring about work?!” Aoko teased, “Wow, It’s like you’ve been replaced by a robot or something!”   
  


Shinichi felt his body tense up almost instinctively at the mention of ‘robot’. He found Kaito’s body had a lot more…. Difficult experiences that he would never begin to understand. It would be triggered by random words or phrases, Shinichi had no way of predicting what would trigger what. 

“Or something is right…” Shinichi muttered in a low, annoyed tone as he stood up from the couch, “Fine, I’ll listen to what you have to say.” 

Saguru didn’t respond, instead dragging Shinichi towards the back of the house, far away from where the others could hear them well. 

“What’s going on, Hakuba?” 

Saguru didn’t answer, instead he pulled out his phone. He tapped a few times on it before turning it around to show Shinichi a video. He recognized it as footage from last night’s heist, but it was from a strange angle. It was him - Well not him, Kaito really- picking the lock, talking to him through the earpiece, everything from the room that night. The video progressed through the events of the night, up until the video began to move slightly. It stopped there, Shinichi inferred that this was what Saguru took from the case last night... 

But that just raised the question as to why he had placed a camera there in the first place?

“Okay? Why are you showing me this?” Shinichi swallowed his nervousness and asked, “Why do you even have this in the first place??” 

“Just what’s going on Kuroba?” Saguru hissed, “Isn’t he supposed to be your rival?? What could you have told him to steal something for you??”

Shinichi blinked. How would Kaito respond to this?? 

“... Are you still trying to insist I’m KID??” He finally whispered after a moment of contemplation.

Saguru sighed. “I know you’re not going to admit it any time soon but for once, Just tell me what’s going on. This isn’t your usual behavior, everything felt off at that heist, not to mention you’re off at school..” He looked down at the floor nervously, “I’m… concerned for you, Kuroba.”

“Hakuba…” Shinichi muttered, his throat felt dry, “...I wish I could, but there’s some, er… circumstances. That don’t allow me to talk about it. That’s what I’d say, If I was KID I suppose.”

Saguru fell silent as he looked back at Shinichi’s face, a moment of surprise flashed across his face. He seemed to mess with his words in his head for a few moments before speaking.

“... You’ve been a lot calmer lately. It’s not my place to pry but… I do want to be there for you. As much as I hate to admit it, You’re one of my closest friends.” He muttered, “You can talk to me anytime.”

“Erm… Thanks, I guess.” Shinichi nervously responded as Saguru pushed past him. 

Saguru stopped at the end of the hall, turning his neck to face Shinichi. “I’m... not sure why, but that calmness feels familiar.” He simply stated before leaving. 

Shinichi could feel sweat beading up on the back of his neck. He forgot about the few times he had worked with Saguru, How attentive he could be. 

He really hoped that he wasn’t catching on too much. 

A feeling of sadness hit Shinichi as he remembered the cases… he missed cases and working as a detective. Strangely enough, His streak of running into murder cases had continued despite the swap. The frustrating part was that Kaito wasn’t a detective, No one would listen to him nor could he even hope to solve them without attracting too much unwanted attention. Still, like that ever stopped him as Conan. 

Being Kaito was different than being Conan, However. Kaito had his own life already established, to do something out of character for him would be to attract unwanted attention. He supposed he already had attracted unwanted attention from Saguru, however. 

Man, He was bad at being another person. He hoped that Kaito was having better luck as he made his way back to the living room, taking his place among the three in the room. 

\-----

Kaito suppressed an anxiety filled gulp. Did… he hear that right?

He found himself at a small restaurant with the rest of the detective boys, Genta and Mitsuhiko had run off to go look at capsule toy machines, leaving Ayumi, Him and Haibara alone together. 

“Conan-kun? Are you okay??” Ayumi waved a hand in front of Kaito’s blank face.

“Ah-Y-Yeah I’m okay.” He forced out, “Can.. you repeat that?”

“Ayumi heard Kobayashi-sensei talking about getting a new pet for the classroom - And the rumors are that it’s a fish!” Ayumi repeated, her voice shaking with excitement. 

“That’s what I thought you said…” Kaito whined. 

Haibara barely suppressed a snicker nearby, Kaito shot her a glare. 

“Is there a chance that it’s something like a hamster? Or a turtle??” Kaito turned back to Ayumi. 

“Mm.” Ayumi shook her head, “Kobayashi-sensei was setting up a tank yesterday in the classroom, she was filling it with water and plants.”

“Turtles are aquatic you know, they need water and plants too-”

“But she was carrying fish food!”

“There’s a chance that you misread the label. It’s probably a turtle. Yeah.” Kaito whispered. 

Ayumi crossed her arms, pouting. “I know what I saw!! The tank was too small for a turtle!” 

“It could be a science experiment too! Look, It’s not gonna be a fish!” Kaito argued back.

He felt deep dread over the idea of having one of those hell creatures in the classroom. He didn’t need that plus having to do a whole child’s act over his head. 

Ayumi frowned, crossing her arms. “Are you calling Ayumi a liar…?”

Haibara shot Kaito a glare, He nervously held his hands up. “No-No! I’m not. We’ll… see for sure tomorrow, Okay?”

Ayumi still frowned but she nodded hesitantly. The magician deeply hoped she had misread things…

“Conan-kun…” Ayumi whispered, “Are… you afraid of fish?” 

“What?!” Kaito spat, “No! NO! Who said anything about being  _ AFRAID _ ??”

Haibara struggled to suppress her sudden bout of laughter.

“Haibara I swear-” Kaito hissed, “Look, I’m not afraid of fish, Okay!!”

“Ayumi won’t tell anyone that Conan-kun is afraid of fish, Promise.” Ayumi nodded, raising her hand in mock pledge. 

“Conan’s afraid of fish??” Genta’s voice came suddenly from the end of the table. 

“Oh my goddd…” Kaito breathed, falling face first onto the table. 

“You guys can’t tell anyone!” Ayumi pointed to the two boys, “Ayumi gave her promise so you two have to promise too!”

“W-We promise-” The two boys repeated quietly, their voices badly hiding traces of snickers.

  
Ayumi narrowed her eyes at them. 

“We promise we won’t tell anyone.” The two repeated a bit more seriously. 

“Good!” 

Kaito remained face down on the table. Why was this happening to him?? Haibara barely was suppressing her snickers now, Kaito hated every moment of what was happening to him. 

He hoped Shinichi was having a better time than he was.


	8. Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW Panic Attack and Ichiyophobia
> 
> Shinichi receives a call from Kaito during his lunch break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short chapter, but this is a very personal topic for me as someone who has GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and has frequent panic attacks so I hope this was okay!
> 
> I also really wanted to write some platonic Kaishin finally. We're getting to good fluff!

For Shinichi, The day was going as perfectly as it could. No one bothered him too much, he was able to read his books in peace (thank god for ebook accounts), and he managed to get through half the day in peace. 

He received a phone call during lunch, unfortunately. He had found a small spot that was relatively quiet, he could eat in peace without being disturbed too much, so he took it without difficulty. 

He found the call was coming from Kaito, however. 

“Hello…?”

“Kudou, is that you??” Kaito’s voice came through quiet and strained. 

“Yeah, Are you okay? What’s going on?” 

  
“Was in class, everything going okay, um,” Kaito took a giant breath, his voice wavered, “I can’t go on this damn trip, but I can’t let people know and-” His voice sped up, his breathing growing faster.

“Woah, Woah, Slow down Kuroba. Breathe.” Shinichi stopped the magician, “One step at a time. What’s this about a trip?”

Kaito took a shaking breath. “Your teacher, Um… Announced a new class pet a few days ago. Turns out she also had planned a field trip to a-a…” He spoke with hitched breaths, “Aquarium.”

  
  


“... Okay? What’s so bad about that?” Shinichi’s eyes widened in realization no sooner did he say that, “Oh… You have ichthyophobia, don’t you.” 

Kaito made a small noise of protest, “No-No! I-I just can’t stand fish and their... Terrifying faces and eyes and-and-” His breathing grew faster. 

“You have ichthyophobia.” Shinichi sighed, “Breathe, Kuroba. It’s going to be okay. Where are you?” 

“O-outside.”

“Okay. Are you sitting down? Can you sit down?”

“Yeah. I-I am.”

“Okay. We aren’t going to think of those things okay? What are five things you can see?”

Kaito remained quiet, his breathing continuing at the same pace it was. 

“I see... T-Trees, Ground… Erm… Doors, rocks… and a fence.”

“Good.” Shinichi spoke in a low voice, “What are four things you can feel?”

“... Concrete steps, cold air, shoes, and the shirt I’m wearing.”

His voice was growing quieter as his breathing began to slow a little. Shinichi took a deep breath, Kaito took one as well in response. 

“You’re doing great. Three things you can hear?”

“God, you sound like Aoko right now… She used to do this for me before she knew…” Kaito laughed quietly, “I can hear birds… Wind… and leaves I suppose..”

“Two things you can smell?”

“She thought it was just anxiety, y’know? … Dirt and… Something cooking from down the road.” 

“One thing you can taste.”

“... Blood.”

Shinichi’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Blood?”

“I think I bit my cheek earlier in my panic. It’s all irony and just… ew.” 

“You should go get some water when you can. You sound better now.”

“Shut up, Tantei-kun.”

Kaito laughed a little over the phone, Shinichi couldn’t help but smile. He was laughing again.

“... I always get sent into a panic when I think about those… things. I never could stand them, ever since I was young.” 

“You know you don’t have to go on that trip if you are that afraid, Right?”

“I’ve got to go, you’d go wouldn’t you?”

Shinichi sighed. “I’d go because I don’t have a crippling fear of fish.”

  
  
“Exactly!!”

“Oh my god, how are you a world-renowned thief when you’re this much of an idiot?” Shinichi hissed, “Just. DON’T GO.” 

“I… Don’t want anyone else to find out I have _that_ for a fear. It’s bad enough you know but…”

“You think I’m that low I’d use your fear at your heists? That’s just playing dirty.” Shinichi sighed, “I think I am owed to use it at least once, however.”

“Why?”

“Taser, Remember?”

“Oh… Oh, fuck.”

“Hey, Hey, I’m kidding.” Shinichi quickly responded as Kaito’s breathing grew erratic again, “I won’t actually do that. I know better than to use your fears against you - Especially if this is how you get around them.”

“... Thank you..”

“No problem.”

“... I’d better get back, I said I was just going to the bathroom but I think this was too long.” Kaito joked, his voice wavering a little. 

“Are you sure you’re okay enough to continue? I can call the Professor and get you out if you need it.”

“No... I’m fine. Sorry for calling so suddenly.”

“It’s fine. Honestly. We’re in this together.”

“Yeah… Thanks, Meitantei.” Kaito replied before hanging up.

Shinichi sighed as he hung up as well. 

“Ichthyophobia, huh?”

One more issue he had to deal with, he supposed. 

He called the professor anyway, Letting him know about Kaito’s panic attack. He didn’t inform him about the cause, however. He remembered Kaito enjoyed chocolate, so he asked Agasa to go and get a cake for when he got out of school. He sent a quick text to Haibara telling her to take Kaito with her when she went back to the Professor’s. She was a little suspicious of the number at first, but after a quick explanation that this was Shinichi, she was okay with it. 

He couldn’t blame Kaito for reacting that way, especially for a fear he couldn’t control… 

He hoped he didn’t go on that trip after all. 

-_-_-

Kaito stood a few days later outside the Beika city aquarium. He took a deep breath, his legs shaking. 

Why did he go through with this after all?? All for some stupid cover?? 

Haibara gently squeezed his arm, causing him to look at her with surprise. 

"You didn't have to do this, you know?" She whispered.

"I refuse to ruin things for him." Kaito muttered, "Even if that means I'm going to have more panic attacks..."

"... You're an idiot." Haibara sighed, "The Professor is in the parking lot if you need an escape. Just let me know and I'll get you out." 

"... You know, you can be nice when you want to be."

"Shush."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I enjoy giving characters panic attacks? Because its a stress reliever and I've had a lot of anxiety these past few months-
> 
> Anyways aquarium trip next chapter, I promise I will eventually follow up on this.


End file.
